The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday submitted a new filing asking District Court Judge Paula Xinis to reset a 14-day limit for attorneys to respond to the lawsuit against the Trump administration in Maryland by Kilmar Abrego Garcia, which claimed he was wrongfully deported in March, after his attorneys asked the judge for permission to amend their lawsuit earlier this month.
In addition to asking Xinis to grant the DOJ attorneys 14 days to respond to Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit, they sought for the countdown to begin after she produces a forthcoming decision regarding Abrego Garcia’s request to amend his lawsuit.
“Defendants hereby move the Court to stay the time for an answer to the complaint until 14 days after such time as the Court has decided the pending Motion for Leave to Amend,” the DOJ requested. “Until such time as the Court has addressed the Motion for Leave, the filing of an answer is unnecessary and duplicative.”
The DOJ attorneys additionally submitted that while Abrego Garcia’s attorneys indicated a response was due on July 21, the DOJ contended it was due on July 23, and Xinis’ court offered a third date.
“Further, as a part of the filing process, it bears noting that the Court actually lists the due date for a response to the answer as due August 4, 2025,” wrote the DOJ attorneys, before calling the question “at best, academic,” because her decision on whether Abrego Garcia should be allowed to amend his lawsuit, “will reset the due date to file an answer until 14 days after the amendment.”
The request by DOJ to dismiss the lawsuit, as referenced in the filing, came after in May, when the DOJ asserted that the court lacked standing over Abrego Garcia, who was then confined inside a prison in El Salvador.
After he was returned to the United States on July 6, when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi unsealed the indictment accusing him of being part of a human smuggling ring for almost a decade, his attorneys filed the request to amend their lawsuit.
In their amended lawsuit, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys ask Xinis to issue an order that would compel U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain Abrego Garcia within the State of Maryland, should he come under their custody. It also requests Xinis to issue a writ of habeas corpus, which they claim would open the door to Abrego Garcia’s release from federal custody.
They also seek a judgment that would see the federal government pay the legal fees associated with the case for the citizen of El Salvador.
Notably, the attorneys’ request to modify his lawsuit was the same filing where it was claimed Abrego Garcia was subjected to torture and starved while in Centro Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) in El Salvador. President Nayib Bukele later posted videos he said disproved Abrego Garcia’s claims.
The filing also came six days after Xinis indicated she would rule on an earlier request by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys for an order that would compel ICE to detain him in the state. She claimed the decision would come before the July 16 hearing by U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee.
Asked to release Abrego Garcia with minimal conditions by the El Salvadoran’s criminal defense attorneys, an unopposed motion was filed by the defense attorneys on Monday, which requested that Crenshaw issue an order keeping Abrego Garcia in DOJ custody for another 30 days, even if he ruled in favor of his immediate release.
The DOJ and Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have maintained that, should Crenshaw release him from custody, he would be detained by ICE, which would then move to deport him for a second time.
Since his return, Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty in the federal human smuggling case. His trial is scheduled for January 2026.
The Tennessee Star was the first outlet to report that the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) stopped the vehicle driven by Abrego Garcia in November 2022.
A spokesman for THP later confirmed to The Star that Abrego Garcia was released at the instruction of the “Biden-era FBI,” and a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document confirmed troopers suspected him of human trafficking.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
