Judge Paula Xinis is now threatening to haul Trump administration officials into her courtroom for answers about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who has been shipped off to a supermax prison in El Salvador. At a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Xinis told the government to prepare for a rapid discovery process. 

“Cancel vacations. Cancel other appointments,” the judge told government lawyers on Tuesday. Judge Xinis says that Mr. Abrego’s attorneys will have the opportunity to conduct their own depositions of Trump officials over the course of the next week. 

“There is no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” Judge Xinis added. 

Attorneys for Mr. Abrego say the Trump administration is openly defying a Supreme Court order by not asking for their client’s return to the United States. In a court filing on Tuesday, the plaintiff’s lawyers say that the government is required to demand Mr. Abrego’s release. 

In response to those claims, the government simply said that they will deport Mr. Abrego again should he be allowed to return. 

The legal filing from Mr. Abrego’s team on Tuesday came just one day after President Trump met with the Salvadoran leader, President Bukele, at the White House. Mr. Trump’s legal advisors, including Attorney General Bondi and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, asserted in the meeting that the government is complying with the court order to “facilitate” the deportee’s return because they are not blocking him from booking a flight on his own. 

The administration is further arguing that it is up to Mr. Bukele to release Mr. Abrego, though the Salvadoran president has said he would not do so, which the White House is perfectly fine with. 

Mr. Abrego’s attorneys say it is not true that the administration is following the high court’s order by handing over all discretion to Mr. Bukele. 

“The Supreme Court ordered the Government ‘to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,’” the lawyers argue. “To give any meaning to the Supreme Court’s order, the Government should at least be required to request the release of Abrego Garcia.”

Judge Xinis has ordered that the government provide her with daily updates about Mr. Abrego’s status in El Salvador’s mega-prison, known as CECOT, which has been home to some of the country’s most dangerous criminals. The government has confirmed in brief status updates that Mr. Abrego is “secure” in the facility, though they have made no mention of any effort to return him to the United States. Government officials have consistently said that they do not have the right to force El Salvador to release Mr. Abrego. 

“The Government’s updates do not indicate that any steps have been taken to comply with this Court’s and the Supreme Court’s orders,” Mr. Abrego’s attorneys state. “There is no evidence that anyone has requested the release of Abrego Garcia.”

Just before Judge Xinis heard arguments on Tuesday from Mr. Abrego’s attorneys and lawyers for the government, the acting general counsel of the department of homeland security, Joseph Mazzara, said in a status update that Mr. Abrego will be deported again should he be released from CECOT and allowed to return to the United States. 

“If Abrego Garcia does present at a port of entry, he would become subject to detention by DHS. In that case, DHS would take him into custody in the United States and either remove him to a third country or terminate his withholding of removal,” Mr. Mazzara writes. The government says Mr. Abrego will be returned to his home country of El Salvador again, though through that different process.

Supporters of Mr. Abrego rallied outside of the federal district courthouse at Greenbelt, Maryland where Judge Xinis heard arguments on Tuesday. His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said she would not give up until she sees her husband again.  

“I will not stop fighting until I see my husband alive. Kilmar, if you can hear me, stay strong. God hasn’t forgotten about you,” Ms. Sura said in a statement to the press outside of the courthouse.