Nomia Iqbal and Brandon Drenon

BBC News

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A federal judge has given the Trump administration two weeks to provide evidence of how it is trying to return a Maryland man who was deported last month to a mega-prison in El Salvador.

“There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” Judge Paula Xinis warned as she requested updates on steps being taken to bring back 29-year-old Salvadoran Kilmar Ábrego García.

She said she would decide if the government had acted in good faith or in contempt of court.

The Supreme Court last week ordered the administration to “facilitate” Mr Ábrego García’s release, though El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said on a visit to the White House on Monday he did not “have the power” to return him.

“To date, what the record shows is that nothing has been done,” Judge Xinis admonished justice department lawyers in court on Tuesday. “Nothing.”

“Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments,” she told the government attorney, adding: “I expect all hands on deck.”

The Trump administration has already acknowledged Mr Ábrego García’s removal was in error, as he had been granted legal protection from deportation in 2019.

But they have also said he has ties to the MS-13 gang, a group it designates as a foreign terrorist organisation – an accusation his lawyer and family denies.