Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, center, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Xinis rejected the government's notion that the ongoing shutdown played a role in its failure to provide information.
She grew especially frustrated when Justice Department lawyers returned from a 30-minute recess — granted at their request — without any new information for the court.
"I’m finding it very hard to believe that there’s some magical information you’re going to get with another 30 minutes," she said, adding: "It’s remarkable that you can’t find a soul who can give you any additional information in this case."
"You’ve got to imagine I would ask some basic questions," she told lawyers for the Justice Department.
Xinis ended court by ordering both parties to return Friday morning for an evidentiary hearing. She pointedly noted the hearing will cover when the Trump administration reached out to Eswatini about its plans to send Abrego Garcia there and the time frame for his removal.
FEDERAL JUDGE EXTENDS ARGUMENTS IN ABREGO GARCIA CASE, SLAMS ICE WITNESS WHO 'KNEW NOTHING'
This still from video from July 22, 2015, shows Paula Xinis from the US Senate Judiciary Committee. (US Senate Judiciary Committee)
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers filed an emergency habeas request in August to keep him in the U.S. for now, ensuring he has access to due process protections, including the right to a reasonable-fear interview, before removal to a third country.
In rejecting the government's request to delay the hearing Monday, Xinis noted that she was "duty bound" to consider the case, which she said involves fundamental questions that were not limited solely to Abrego Garcia's habeas request.
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
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