Trump-appointed judge issues rebuke and throws out DOJ suit in deportation case

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas T. Cullen has thrown out the case from the Justice Department after it demanded a higher court allow them to deport Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland father who has become emblematic of President Donald Trump's erratic mass deportations.

The Trump-appointed judge dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday morning against state judges who paused Ábrego García's deportation for 48 hours so that his case could be adjudicated, explained Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney.

Cullen also issued a rebuke of Trump and his administration for the ongoing attacks on judges, calling their filings a "smear" that is "unprecedented and unfortunate."

"Indeed, over the past several months, principal officers of the Executive (and their spokespersons) have described federal district judges across the country as 'left-wing,' 'liberal,' 'activists,' 'radical,' 'politically minded,' 'rogue,' 'unhinged,' 'outrageous, overzealous, [and] unconstitutional,' '[c]rooked,' and worse," Cullen wrote in a footnote. "Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is a hallmark of our constitutional system, this concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate."

Ábrego García was accidentally shipped off to a harsh El Salvadorian prison despite a judge's demand to turn the planes around until their cases could be adjudicated. After multiple demands to return Ábrego García, the Justice Department finally did so, but only because it charged him with a number of crimes while issuing a slew of allegations.

Garcia was required to do a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday, and it was assumed they would, again, take him into custody. They seek to deport him to Uganda.

Read the full ruling here.