OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
12:07 PM – Monday, July 7, 2025
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who is presiding over illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s “wrongful deportation case” in Maryland, denied the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
During a hearing on Monday, Judge Xinis challenged Department of Justice attorneys on their May court filings, questioning their assertion that Abrego Garcia could not be returned to the United States following his indictment in Tennessee on human smuggling charges.
“Your client secured an indictment against Mr. Abrego Garcia on May 21 … how could you six days later say you had no power to produce him?” Judge Xinis stated. “Why else would you file a criminal indictment against someone who you can’t produce? It’s illogical.”
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Abrego Garcia, who was deported back in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, was returned to the United States last month to face federal human trafficking charges in Tennessee. The indictment accuses him of transporting other illegal aliens within the U.S. while residing in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty.
During Monday’s hearing, Judge Xinis scrutinized a May filing from the Department of Justice that argued that the U.S. government lacked the authority to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return from detention in El Salvador.
Xinis questioned DOJ attorneys about the timeline of the criminal investigation and whether the Tennessee indictment served as a pretext for his release and reentry into the country.
“Those are powerful arguments to say ‘I don’t have the power’… yet, at the same time, you’re putting in place the power of the prosecutorial arm to charge an individual, who you say will never come back to the United States, with a crime,” Judge Xinis said.
“You began a criminal investigation … on April 28, which was a month after this case began … the only possible defensible use of investigative criminal resources would be if you eventually secured an indictment to bring Mr. Abrego Garcia back,” she added.
DOJ attorney Bridget O’Hickey responded, saying that Abrego Garcia was not indicted “with the purpose of bringing him back.”
“He was indicted because he was under investigation for those criminal charges,” O’Hickey stated.
Judge Xinis was also set to hear arguments on Monday regarding whether Abrego Garcia should be transferred to Maryland while awaiting trial in Tennessee. His attorneys filed an emergency motion last week requesting his return to Maryland during the pretrial period.
However, government attorneys indicated that they still intend to pursue his removal.
“The magistrate judge overseeing the Tennessee case is expected to release him on bond as he awaits trial, setting up a battle over his potential removal,” ABC News reported.
In a court filing last week, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys claimed that he had been subjected to “beatings, severe deprivation, inadequate nutrition and psychological torture” while in CECOT, and that he “could face persecution or torture if removed directly to various other countries, including but not limited to countries with notorious human rights abuses like Libya, South Sudan, and Eritrea.”
Abrego Garcia’s legal defense in the criminal human smuggling case is being provided by the Federal Public Defender’s Office, a public institution that is funded by U.S. taxpayers.
Tennessee will host the next hearing in Abrego Garcia’s criminal case on July 16th. Last week, Middle District of Tennessee acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire submitted a motion to schedule a jury trial “within 70 days of his initial appearance.”
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