A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the unsealing of several court documents in the lawsuit over deportation, rejecting the Trump administration's arguments that it would risk national security.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued her order after media organizations, including The Associated Press, argued the public has a right to access court records under the First Amendment.
Filings unsealed so far offer little information that鈥檚 new or unknown publicly. Xinis described one document as 鈥渞elatively boilerplate.鈥� It was a request by the Trump administration to temporarily halt discovery, an early phase of a lawsuit where parties share evidence.
鈥淚t does not disclose any potentially privileged or otherwise sensitive information for which a compelling government interest outweighs the right to access,鈥� Xinis wrote.
Xinis noted that some documents were public before the court was asked to seal them the next day. Those filings contained a back-and-forth between Abrego Garcia鈥檚 attorneys and the U.S. government over efforts to return him from El Salvador.
Trump administration lawyers often objected to answering questions, arguing that they involve state secrets, sensitive diplomatic negotiations and other protected information.
For example, the U.S. attorneys mentioned 鈥渁ppropriate diplomatic discussions with El Salvador.鈥� But they wrote that disclosing the details 鈥漜ould negatively impact any outcome.鈥�
Xinis also ordered the partial release of a transcript from an April 30 court hearing. Some of it will be reacted to protect potentially classified information.
Wednesday's ruling was unrelated to the Trump administration pending invocation of the state secrets privilege, often used in military cases. The administration has argued that about the Abrego Garcia matter in open court 鈥� or even to the judge in private 鈥� could jeopardize national security.
Xinis is yet to rule on the state secrets claim.
that the Trump administration has done nothing to return the Maryland construction worker. They say the government is invoking the privilege to hide behind the misconduct of mistakenly deporting him and refusing to bring him back.
Abrego Garcia鈥檚 deportation in 2019 that shielded Abrego Garcia from expulsion to his native country. The immigration judge determined that Abrego Garcia faced likely persecution by a local Salvadoran gang that terrorized his family.
Abrego Garcia鈥檚 American wife sued over his deportation. Xinis . The Supreme Court ruled on that the administration must work to bring him back.
President in late April that he could retrieve Abrego Garcia with a phone call to El Salvador鈥檚 president. But Trump said he wouldn鈥檛 do it because Abrego Garcia is a member of the , an allegation that Abrego Garcia denies and for which he was never charged.
Ben Finley, The Associated Press
