Two days after Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges in Tennessee, lawyers for the U.S. government asked a Maryland judge for more time to show they’ve complied with orders to facilitate the return of the Salvadoran national, who was mistakenly deported in March.
Lawyers for the Trump administration have said since Abrego Garcia’s Maryland lawsuit against several agency heads was filed while he was still imprisoned in El Salvador, the suit should be dismissed as moot.
Last week, the construction worker’s attorneys filed a motion saying his Maryland lawsuit should continue “until the Government is held accountable for its blatant, willful, and persistent violations of court orders at excruciating cost to Abrego Garcia and his family.”
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said the federal government has “engaged in an elaborate, all of government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia.”
Sunday, lawyers for the government filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, seeking an extra week to respond to Judge Paula Xinis, saying “Mr. Garcia has already obtained the relief he has sought through this lawsuit — he is now in the United States.”
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the government “believes that Plaintiffs’ allegations are without merit.”
In a “Motion for extension of time,” Shumate said that responding to Abrego Garcia’s motion “will require close coordination with multiple agency defendants in this case, including the preparation of a declaration or declarations that explain how Defendants complied with their discovery obligations.”
In the separate Tennessee case, the federal indictment accuses Abrego Garcia of smuggling throughout the U.S. hundreds of people living in the country illegally, including children and members of the violent MS-13 gang. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have characterized the smuggling case as a desperate attempt to justify the mistaken deportation.
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