Abrego Garcia's Lawyers: "This Case is Not Over."

Lawyers for Abrego Garcia slam the government for trying to weasel their way out of contempt.

Just yesterday, I posted here on The Breakdown “Personally, I do not think that the discovery just goes away because the government indicted Abrego Garcia and returned him to the United States. The discovery was ordered to determine whether the government defied the court’s orders to explain what they were doing to facilitate his return - not to return him. I don’t think the government’s actions excuse past non-compliance with court orders.”

Today, lawyers for Abrego Garcia have filed their opposition to the government’s motion to stay the discovery process that could lead to contempt and/or sanctions for the government’s failure to obey court orders. They write:

Though Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is, at long last, back in the United States following his illegal removal, to characterize the Government as having “complied with the Court’s order” is pure farce.

The Government flouted rather than followed the orders of this Court and the United States Supreme Court. Instead of facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return, for the past two months Defendants have engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia. In its latest act of contempt, the Government arranged for Abrego Garcia’s return, not to Maryland in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive to “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” but rather to Tennessee so that he could be charged with a crime in a case that the Government only developed while it was under threat of sanctions.

It was also not lost on them (or any of us) how amazing it is that the government could, in fact, return Abrego Garcia to the United States with a quickness when it suited their needs:

The Government’s convenient ability to return Abrego Garcia in time for a press conference unveiling his indictment puts the lie to its previously feigned powerlessness to comply with this Court’s injunction.

The dichotomy between the lip service Government lawyers have paid the Court about supposed efforts to comply and the hostility and intransigence displayed by the White House and cabinet members has been stark and chilling. Two things are now crystal clear. First, the Government has always had the ability to return Abrego Garcia, but it has simply refused to do so. Second, the Government has conducted a determined stalling campaign to stave off contempt sanctions long enough to concoct a politically face-saving exit from its own predicament.

I, too, feel these are trumped-up charges, brought forth only for “what I consider an attempt to circumvent potentially embarrassing discovery.”

They go on to say:

The Court previously ordered discovery to “assist the Court in determining whether contempt proceedings are warranted.” The Court has also ordered that Plaintiffs may file by June 11 a motion for discovery sanctions against the Government. These critical fact-finding efforts should not cease now that Plaintiffs are finally on the verge of securing answers from knowledgeable officials about what the Government actually did or did not do to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.

And this next bit is important. When I was watching Pam Bondi’s press conference, I thought to myself that the government was going to claim that they had been unable to bring Abrego Garcia home earlier because they didn’t have a good reason until they had a warrant for his arrest. But Abrego Garcia’s lawyers point out that there was no extradition proceeding:

The Government waited over 80 days to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States after illegally removing him to El Salvador, despite the President’s acknowledgement back in April that he “could” bring him back. In the interim, there was no extradition proceeding. (Quoting Attorney General Pam Bondi “Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant and they agreed to return him to our country”).

When Pam Bondi said they simply presented Bukele with an arrest warrant, she was admitting there was no extradition proceeding. We currently have an extradition treaty with El Salvador. This is what the Department of Justice website says about extradition proceedings:

Extradition practice varies greatly, depending on the country involved. Typically, extradition is comprised of a judicial and an executive phase. After a person has been located and arrested in the requested country, the case enters the judicial phase. During the judicial phase, a court will determine whether the extradition request meets the requirements of the applicable extradition treaty and the law of the requested country. If so, the judicial authority will rule on whether the person may be extradited. If the judicial authority rules that the person may be extradited, the case enters the executive phase, in which an executive authority of the government of the requested country, usually a Prime Minister, Minister of Justice or Minister of Foreign Affairs (for the United States, the appropriate executive authority is the Secretary of State), will determine whether the requested country will surrender the wanted person in extradition. If so, the executive authority may issue a surrender order.

Extradition of persons located abroad can take many months or even years to complete. The United States works with foreign authorities to locate wanted persons and then to request the extradition of the person. However, the extradition case is handled by the foreign authorities in the foreign courts. Once the extradition request is submitted to the foreign government, the United States does not control the pace of the proceedings. Even if there are no immediate legal impediments to extradition, it may take many months or even many years for the extradition request to be heard by the courts and for the executive authority to make a surrender decision.

NONE of that happened, thus proving the United States could have returned Abrego Garcia AT ANY TIME simply by asking.

They conclude:

Until the Government is held accountable for its blatant, willful, and persistent violations of court orders at excruciating cost to Abrego Garcia and his family, this case is not over. The executive branch’s wanton disregard for the judicial branch has left a stain on the Constitution. If there is to be any hope of removing that stain, it must start by shining a light on the improper actions of the Government in this tragic affair and imposing meaningful remedies.

I’m looking forward to the sanctions motion they will file by Wednesday.

~AG