Who is the Maryland federal judge sparring with the Trump administration over a mistaken deportation?

A federal judge with deep ties to Baltimore had strong words for the Trump Administration for failing to comply with her order to return a man the government mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

"I'm not asking for state secrets," Judge Paula Xinis told a deputy attorney general at a tense hearing Friday. "…All I know is he's not here. The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I'm asking a simple question: Where is he?"

The government has yet to reveal the exact location or steps it took to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States. 

Deputy Attorney General Drew Ensign told Judge Xinis, "The defendants are not yet prepared to share that information. They are actively evaluating the Supreme Court decision and what they can share with this court."

Who is Judge Xinis?

Judge Paula Xinis was appointed to the U.S. District Court in Maryland in 2015 by President Barack Obama. She was confirmed in 2016.

The Yale Law grad has strong ties to Baltimore. She served as a federal public defender before joining the law firm of Murphy, Falcon, and Murphy in 2011. She became a partner in 2013.

The firm's founding partner, Billy Murphy, has handled many high-profile cases, including representing the family of Freddie Gray after he died in police custody a decade ago. 

Her official biography said while at Murphy's firm, Judge Xinis "handled complex civil actions as well as mass and class actions in state and federal court."

Xinis also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland's Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore. 

Abrego Garcia's Baltimore ties 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was working in Baltimore as a sheet metal apprentice. He headed home to Prince George's County on March 12th when ICE agents arrested him without a warrant and later deported him to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. 

He first entered the United States illegally as a teenager. 

After an arrest at a Hyattsville Home Depot in 2019, a Baltimore immigration judge looked into allegations he was an MS-13 gang member but could not substantiate them. The judge found that Abrego Garcia should not be deported back to El Salvador because he faced gang violence in his native country. 

Abrego Garcia's wife and attorney have repeatedly denied he was a member of MS-13 despite several high-level Trump Administration officials accusing him of gang affiliation, including U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Vice President JD Vance. 

In a ruling Sunday, Judge Xinis sharply criticized the Trump Administration over its handling of the case. She wrote there was "no lawful basis to take him into custody."

"There were no legal grounds whatsoever for his arrest, detention or removal...His detention appears wholly lawless," Judge Xinis said. 

She previously ordered the government to return Abrego Garcia to the United States before midnight Monday, but the government appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and won a stay. 

Then, in a unanimous decision, the court ordered the Trump Administration to take steps to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. 

Justices then sent the case back to Judge Xinis in Maryland.

The justices wrote in their unsigned order, "The district court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the executive branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps."

Legal showdown over mistaken deportation 

Judge Xinis gave the government until 9:30 Friday morning to provide the following: 

• The current physical location and custodial status of Abrego Garcia
• What steps, if any, have Defendants taken to facilitate Abrego Garcia's immediate return to the United States
• What additional steps will Defendants take, and when, to facilitate his return

The government countered by asking for more time and called it "impracticable for Defendants to comply with the Court's 9:30 am deadline only a few hours after the Supreme Court issued an order in this case."

Judge Xinis shot back and said the government had time to prepare, "First, the Defendants' act of sending Abrego Garcia to El Salvador was wholly illegal from the moment it happened, and Defendants have been on notice of the same." 

She then gave them an additional two hours. The government then missed that deadline and came to court with no clear answers.

Judge Xinis called the government's response "extremely troubling."

She asked, "Why did defendants not comply with my order?" 

Deputy Attorney General Ensign replied, "We are still vetting what we can say."

Judge Xinis later told him, "The record as it stands—despite this court's clear directive—your clients have done nothing to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia."

She became so incensed that she ordered the government to provide daily updates in the case. 

Supporters of Abrego Garcia gather in Greenbelt 

Outside the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Prince George's County, a group of supporters of Abrego Garcia, many from Maryland, sang and chanted. 

They gathered around his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who declined to speak at a news conference. 

Vasquez Sura's eyes filled with tears as she listened to her attorney answer questions. A member of the advocacy group CASA put her arms around her.

"I had really hoped after a 9-0 loss at the Supreme Court they would essentially say we get it and start acting in good faith," said her attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. "If those updates are not sufficiently detailed or without haste, we are going to be back in front of the judge requesting relief."

As she watched, he told reporters, "There's no reason this case needed to become a national issue. There's no reason this case needed to go to the Supreme Court, and it's been the government who's done this every step of the way."

What's next for Abrego Garcia?

Judge Xinis ordered the government to file daily status updates by 5 p.m.

She also set a hearing for next Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Judge Xinis found the government "failed to comply" with her prior order. 

She was blunt and wrote: 

"During the hearing, the Court posed straightforward questions, including: Where is Abrego Garcia right now? What steps had Defendants taken to facilitate his return while the Court's initial order on injunctive relief was in effect (from the afternoon of April 4, 2025, through the morning of April 7, 2025, and since 6:35 PM last night)? Defendants' counsel responded that he could not answer these questions and at times suggested that Defendants had withheld such information from him. As a result, counsel could not confirm, and thus did not advance any evidence, that Defendants had done anything to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return. This remained Defendants' position even after this Court reminded them that the Supreme Court of the United States expressly affirmed this Court's authority to require the Government 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return."