'Made my mouth drop open': Expert 'astonished' as Trump lawyer makes courtroom admission
In a Maryland court on Friday, the Justice Department dropped what one lawyer called a jaw-dropping claim.
The DOJ faced off against lawyers for an immigrant that the administration has admitted was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland dad who had protected legal status, was sent to the notorious Central American prison under the accusation that he had gang ties, the Associated Press reported on April 1. The Trump administration has since said there was an administrative error and he should not have been deported — but it claims it's powerless to bring him back.
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As both sides debated, the judge asked the DOJ lawyer why the U.S. couldn't get Abrego Garcia back.
"I will say for the court's awareness that when this case landed on my desk, the first thing I did was ask my client the same question," the DOJ lawyer answered, according to notes recorded by NBC reporters in the courtroom.
"And then he says this," Rubin continued, "which made my mouth drop open. 'I have not yet received an answer that I find satisfactory."
Rubin said that hearing a government lawyer "essentially say, my client isn't telling me the full and complete truth, or my client isn't providing me with information that I find satisfactory enough to give to you, judge, is an extraordinarily telling moment by a career civil servant having served in the Department of Justice for 15 years. These guys are playing games with me, too, your honor. And I was astonished to see that."
The judge then granted the motion for a preliminary injunction.
"That means, at least ... based on the plaintiff's application, that the government has to at least request that Mr. Abrego Garcia be returned and that the government demand that it get back its money for Mr. Abrego Garcia being held in Salvadoran custody," clarified Rubin.
The judge ruled that the government must bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. by Monday.
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