President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the south lawn of the White House on May 4, 2025. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Their filing comes one month after the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S., upholding the orders of the lower court judge.
Since then, the government and Abrego Garcia's attorneys have sparred in court over what exactly it means to "facilitate" his return. Trump officials have alleged Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though any formal ties have not been proven.
Xinis ordered expedited discovery in April to determine whether the administration was complying with her directive to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. On Tuesday, she also ordered the Trump administration to submit a previously requested privilege log related to its invocation of the state secrets privilege.
She gave the administration until 3 p.m. Tuesday to comply, warning that failure to file the log – or otherwise respond – would be considered an "intentional refusal" to follow the court's orders.
Last week, the Trump administration appears to have invoked both the state secrets and deliberative process privileges, according to a court order from Xinis. The order granted both parties an extra week to submit new filings on the asserted claims.
The state secrets privilege is a national security tool that allows the government to withhold certain information from the courts, so long as it can prove a "reasonable danger" to national security and foreign affairs as a result of the information being made public.
Lawyers for Abrego Garcia told the court that the administration's assertion of state secrets privileges is just another attempt by senior Trump administration officials to "stonewall" the return of their client, who was deported in March due to what administration officials acknowledged was an administrative error.
100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND 'TEFLON DON': TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C., on March 16, 2023. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In March, the Trump administration told U.S. District Judge James Boasberg it was invoking the state secrets privilege in a case challenging its early deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, after repeatedly refusing to provide the court details about those flights.
Administration lawyers declined to disclose how many individuals were deported "solely on the basis" of the act, where the planes landed, what time they departed, and from which locations, citing national security concerns. (The case is now pending before the Supreme Court.)
It’s not the first time comments from senior Cabinet officials have intensified scrutiny of the government’s legal arguments.
Last week, Boasberg pressed Justice Department attorneys in a related case brought by a broader class of plaintiffs, citing public remarks by Trump and Noem about CECOT – the maximum-security prison in El Salvador where the U.S. has deported hundreds of migrants. He also questioned DOJ lawyers about the White House’s role in securing prisoner releases.
"Is the president not telling the truth?" Boasberg asked Justice Department lawyer Abhishek Kambli during the hearing. "Or could he secure his release?"
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On Monday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued there’s little evidence to justify the Trump administration’s use of the privilege, noting no military or intelligence operations are at issue. They wrote it "defies reason to imagine that the United States’ relationship with El Salvador would be endangered by any effort to seek the return of a wrongfully deported person who the Government admits never should have been removed to El Salvador in the first place."
Xinis will hear from both sides at a status conference scheduled for Friday afternoon in Greenbelt, Maryland.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-remarks-could-come-back-bite-him-abrego-garcia-deportation-battle