Newsweek: Why Was Kilmar Abrego Garcia Returned to the US?
Newsweek
Why Was Kilmar Abrego Garcia Returned to the US? | Opinion
Thomas Moukawsher
Published
Jun 11, 2025 at 06:30 AM EDT
If you’ve moved on to the latest Trump spectacle in Los Angeles, you may have underrated the monumental importance of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador. It’s a watershed moment. The Justice Department has decided to obey the law.
From its earlier behavior with this migrant, it wasn’t clear that obeying the law was among the department’s priorities. Abrego Garcia had a court order forbidding his deportation to his native El Salvador. ICE sent him there anyway, and the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return.
The Justice Department ignored the order for months, mocking the authority of Judge Paula Xinis as she tried to implement the facilitation ruling. Government lawyers pretended not to understand what “facilitate” meant. They dragged their feet, squabbling about court deadlines and document requests. Administration officials and the president of El Salvador repeatedly said Abrego Garcia wouldn’t be returned.
But in a stunning reversal, Abrego Garcia is back in the United States. In an equally stunning admission, President Donald Trump said that the Justice Department made the decision without him. They tried to put a fig leaf over the whole thing. The White House said Abrego Garcia was returned so he could be prosecuted as an “illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker who has spent his entire life abusing innocent people, especially women and the most vulnerable.”
But they didn’t mean it. The only thing the government has charged Abrego Garcia with is transporting illegal aliens. The indictment mouths off about Abrego Garcia being an MS-13 gang member who transported guns, and sexually abused migrant women, but—regardless of whether he is a good guy or not—he hasn’t been charged with any gang crimes, gun crimes, or sex crimes.
This means the administration didn’t bring Abrego Garcia back because it had grave charges to bring against him. More likely, Justice Department lawyers—perhaps even including Attorney General Pam Bondi—are stepping back from their ultra-Trump-pleasing pronouncements and remembering that they are lawyers, not Fox News personalities.
And perhaps it’s just in time. It comes at the moment when Judge Xinis is beginning the sanctions process that could mean misconduct penalties against the Justice Department and its lawyers for stonewalling over Abrego Garcia. It also follows an ethics complaint against Pam Bondi filed in Florida by 70 people, including lawyers, former judges, and law professors. The complaint is specifically aimed at Bondi’s alleged misconduct in forcing Justice Department lawyers to follow Trump and not the law.
In light of these developments, Bondi and her team may be slowly recognizing that their right to practice law depends on adherence to ethical rules. Those rules forbid lawyers from ignoring court orders, seeking frivolous delays, and making bogus claims about things like what “facilitate” means—Bondi’s playbook until now. When judges do their jobs, lawyers who violate those rules may be fined, suspended, or disbarred.
Bondi could face these kinds of penalties in Florida, and other lawyers at the Justice Department may find themselves facing similar charges. It’s a good time for them to clean up their acts and avoid career ending sanctions.
Other lawyers should follow their lead. In particular, the prominent law firms who yielded to extortion demands from Donald Trump requiring them to do free work for his pet causes should rethink their choices. Collaborating with an extortionist rather than reporting him is a serious breach of legal ethics. Other law firms stood up to Trump, and so should they.
Likewise, the lawyers representing both parties in Trump’s personal lawsuit against CBS should consider their futures as the negotiations drag on. They know Trump’s lawsuit is frivolous and that CBS wants to settle only because Trump controls the Federal Communications Commission, and it can block the sale of CBS‘ parent to its would-be purchaser Skydance. Those lawyers are negotiating a bribe.
Let’s hope they wise up and act like the lawyers who defeated Trump’s extortion demands in court. If they do, there’s hope that the Justice Department’s decision to obey the Supreme Court and return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States represents a trend: lawyers are remembering that their duty is to the rule of law and not the whims of one man.
Thomas G. Moukawsher is a former Connecticut complex litigation judge and a former co-chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Employee Benefits. He is the author of the book, The Common Flaw: Needless Complexity in the Courts and 50 Ways to Reduce It.