BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A federal judge has given the Trump administration two weeks to submit evidence on how it is trying to return a Maryland man who officials have conceded was wrongly deported last month to a mega-prison in El Salvador.<\/p>\n Judge Paula Xinis accused government officials of inaction in the case of Salvadoran national Kilmar \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda, warning “there will be no tolerance for gamesmanship”. <\/p>\n She said she would decide if the government acted in good faith or was in contempt of court. <\/p>\n The Supreme Court has ordered the administration to “facilitate” the 29-year-old’s release, though El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on a visit to the White House he did not “have the power” to return him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Trump administration maintains Mr \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda has ties to the MS-13 gang, which has been designated a foreign terrorist designation. His legal team denies this and says he has never been charged with any crime.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Judge Xinis told justice department lawyers at a Greenbelt, Maryland, court hearing: “To date, what the record shows is that nothing has been done. Nothing.”<\/p>\n “Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments,” she said, adding: “I expect all hands on deck.”<\/p>\n She said she would require four officials with the US homeland security department and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to answer questions under oath by 23 April.<\/p>\n Judge Xinis, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, last Friday requested daily updates from the government about steps they are taking to return Mr \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda. <\/p>\n In court on Tuesday, justice department lawyer Drew Ensign said they would facilitate Mr \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda’s return if he “presents himself at a port of entry”.<\/p>\n However, shortly before the hearing, the homeland security department indicated otherwise.<\/p>\n Joseph Mazzarra, acting general counsel of the agency, wrote in a court filing that if Mr \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda did show up at a US port of entry, he would be detained.<\/p>\n He would either be removed to a third country, or the department would ask an immigration judge to strip him of legal protection from deportation granted six years ago, said the filing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before Tuesday’s hearing, Mr \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, called for her husband to be allowed back.<\/p>\n “I find myself pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games with the life of Kilmar,” she told a crowd of protesters.<\/p>\n A 2019 court order shielded Mr \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from gangs in his home country.<\/p>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/f3b6\/live\/4f45d530-1a5e-11f0-bd32-7346abd61002.jpg.webp\")
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