General Discussion

A deputy assistant attorney general told the judge overseeing the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, that he does "not have the information" regarding Abrego Garcia's whereabouts.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis began a hearing Friday on Abrego Garcia's deportation by asking the government to answer where Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia is.

"Where is he and under whose authority?" she repeatedly asked.

"I do not have that knowledge, and therefore I cannot relate that knowledge," DOJ attorney Drew Ensign said.

"I'm not asking for state secrets, I'm asking where one man who is wrongly and illegally deported, removed from this country [is]," Xinis said.

"Your Honor, I do not have the information provided to me that I can provide to you," Ensign said again.

The judge decided to go ahead with Friday's hearing after the Trump administration sought to delay the hearing until next week. The Justice Department on Friday morning asked her to reschedule the hearing for Wednesday, April 16, two days after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to meet with the White House -- but the judge, in a filing, kept the hearing date as scheduled.

Xinis, at the start of the hearing, said has three questions for DOJ: The current physical location and custodial status of Abrego Garcia, what steps the Trump administration has taken to facilitate his return, and what additional steps the government will take and when to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return.