‘That ends now’: Judge overseeing Abrego Garcia case knocks Trump administration for repeated stonewalling

By Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration is not acting in “good faith” as part of the expedited fact-finding process unfolding in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the federal judge overseeing the matter ruled Tuesday, accusing officials of intentional noncompliance with their obligation to produce information.

The 8-page order from US District Judge Paula Xinis is extremely critical of how the Justice Department has been navigating the highly expedited discovery process she’s allowing to proceed in order to figure out whether the administration is complying with her order that it “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador, where he was mistakenly deported last month.

“For weeks, Defendants have sought refuge behind vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege, using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this Court’s orders,” Xinis wrote. “Defendants have known, at least since last week, that this Court requires specific legal and factual showings to support any claim of privilege. Yet they have continued to rely on boilerplate assertions. That ends now.”

She ordered Justice Department lawyers representing the administration to provide her with a more “specific legal and factual bases” for why they were invoking privilege in order to avoid providing some written discovery Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have been seeking.

“Given that this Court expressly warned Defendants and their counsel to adhere strictly to their discovery obligations, their boilerplate, non-particularized objections are presumptively invalid and reflect a willful refusal to comply with this Court’s Discovery Order and governing rules,” Xinis wrote.

The order comes a day after Abrego Garcia’s attorneys complained to the judge that the government was providing it with insufficient responses to discovery questions, known as interrogatories, and inadequate documents.

“Its document production consists entirely of public filings from the dockets, copies of Plaintiffs’ own discovery requests and correspondence, and two non-substantive cover emails transmitting declarations filed in this case. Its interrogatory responses are similarly non-responsive,” they wrote in a court filing.

DHS attorney deposed

Earlier Tuesday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys took the deposition of Joseph Mazzara, the top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, according to a source familiar with the case.

Mazzara has been providing the judge with some of the daily updates she is requiring the administration to submit to understand how it’s complying with her order to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

Tuesday, the Trump administration delivered its daily 5 p.m. update on the Abrego Garcia situation under seal.

“Defendants provide Notice that Defendants submitted today’s daily status report to the Court confidentially and under seal for in camera review,” DOJ attorneys wrote.

In camera review is a process by which a judge can review information confidentially without having the other side in a case present.

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