NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
GREENBELT, MD— A federal judge in Maryland on Friday vowed to issue an order “as soon as possible” in a case involving the legal status of Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the Trump administration’s plans to deport him from the U.S. to a third country within days — capping an extraordinary marathon hearing in his case that stretched for nearly seven hours — and has dominated headlines and federal court dockets for as many months.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis adjourned the court Friday evening with a promise to order on the matter as quickly as possible. Much of the hearing, however, was punctuated by incredulous objections from Xinis and frequent requests to “sidebar” with lawyers arguing both sides of the case.
For Xinis, a judge who has presided over various iterations of Abrego’s civil case since March, the frequent pauses were a bit of an abberration, which she acknowledged.
“I’ve always been a proponent of smooth jazz,” she quipped.
Certain portions of the day went far less smoothly. Xinis upbraided the Trump administration for its failure to produce a witness for the court to testify about what steps it had taken to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s deportation to a third country, describing the official who appeared on the stand as a witness “who knows less than nothing” about the case, and the countries they are considering removing him to.
“This appears to be in direct contravention of the court,” she noted pointedly, shortly before adjourning for the day.
ABREGO GARCIA REMAINS IN US FOR NOW AS JUDGE TAKES CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT
Kilmar Abrego Garcia (R) and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura (L) attend a prayer vigil before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. ( Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Xinis had ordered the evidentiary hearing Monday, with the stated goal of evaluating a request from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers,…
