Reporter Warns of ‘Corruption’ in Kilmar Abrego Garcia Legal Saga, Says Maryland Judge Acting Like Defense Attorney

Kaitlin Housler
Tom Pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the federal judiciary—particularly Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland—is acting politically and unethically in the ongoing legal battle over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal alien with a final deportation order who faces allegations of human smuggling.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took Abrego Garcia into custody in Baltimore on Monday morning, following his release last week from DOJ custody in Tennessee, where he had been held on federal human smuggling charges.

On Monday afternoon, District Court Judge Paula Xinis blocked Abrego Garcia’s deportation to Uganda after he filed a last-minute lawsuit against the federal government.

Pappert argued Xinis is effectively functioning as part of Abrego Garcia’s legal defense, consistently ruling in his favor and, most recently, delaying his deportation.

“I don’t think this woman has ever, in any of these last four months, written one ruling that could be construed as even slightly negative for Kilmar Abrego Garcia. His lawyers write her motions, she signs them. It’s quite bizarre in my opinion,” Pappert said on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.

Pappert described the case as emblematic of deeper “corruption” within the federal district courts, especially in liberal jurisdictions, where judges consistently appear to use their positions to undermine Trump administration policies.

“These judges, I think, are having the opposite of their intended effect. Their intended effect is to hurt the Trump administration and make the president seem as though he is weak and impotent on the federal level,” Pappert said.

“What this is actually doing is exposing to the American people exactly how corrupt our court systems are: how they are politicized, and how they are the arm of the Democratic Party to enforce their most insane policies. That’s what’s being exposed here,” he added.

Pappert criticized the legal arguments being made by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, particularly their claim that their client is no longer an illegal immigrant, as he, after being brought back to the U.S., was issued a special visa typically granted to allow criminal defendants to face charges.

Noting how Abrego Garcia’s legal team now claims the special visa gives him temporary legal residency until June 2026 and is arguing he cannot currently be deported, Pappert predicted the alleged human smuggler’s case could drag into mid-September and warned that if the judge orders Abrego Garcia’s release, the Trump DOJ will likely fast-track an appeal—possibly to the Supreme Court.

“It seems this is really just going to slow things down. Xinis is going to be able to hear all sorts of wonderful, colorful arguments and requests long and well thought-out filings from both sides, probably through the middle of next month before she issues, what I expect, to be a fundamentally insane ruling that is detached from reality, which, based on how things have gone in her court and in Maryland, will have about an 80 percent chance of being defeated on appeal at the appellate court,” Pappert explained.

“If the appellate court [sides] with Xinis, I think the Supreme Court is going to have about a 99 percent chance of overruling whatever insanity she comes up with,” he added.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.

 

 

 

 

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