Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say they’re ‘still in the dark’ about government’s efforts to facilitate his return
Sen. Van Hollen’s Office via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia said in a court filing Thursday that after conducting three depositions, they are “still in the dark about the Government’s efforts to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody and return to the United States.”
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, seeking to determine how the government has failed to return Abrego Garcia after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, last month ordered expedited discovery in the case which included the depositions of the four government officials who submitted status updates on Abrego Garcia to the court.
In their filing on Thursday, attorneys for Abrego Garcia asked Judge Xinis to authorize three additional depositions of officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of State, and the Department of Justice.
“As the Court stated in that Order, “discovery is necessary in light of Defendants’ uniform refusal to disclose ‘what it can’ regarding their facilitation of Abrego Garcia’s release and return to the status quo ante,” the lawyers wrote.
The motion comes a day after Judge Xinis, in a court order, said that the Trump administration had invoked the rarely used state secrets privilege to shield information about the case, and scheduled a May 16 hearing on the matter.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who has been living with his wife and children in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13. His wife and attorneys deny that he is an MS-13 member.
The Trump administration, while acknowledging that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in error, has said that his alleged MS-13 affiliation makes him ineligible to return to the United States.
“Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador and should never have been in this country and will not be coming back to this country,” Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Thursday in an appearance at a budget hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“There is no scenario where Garcia will be in the United States again. If he were to come back, we would immediately deport him again,” Noem said.
(WASHINGTON) — A group of advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging Donald Trump’s recent executive order seeking to overhaul the U.S. election system, accusing the president of trying to enact “unlawful actions” to enforce “lawless mandates.”
The lawsuit alleges that Trump’s unilateral efforts to reshape voting in federal elections — including requiring proof of citizenship when registering and restricting mail-in voting deadlines — exceeds his authority as president and threatens to strip millions of their voting rights.
“The Order violates and subverts the separation of powers by lawlessly arrogating to the President authority to declare election rules by executive fiat,” the lawsuit alleged. “The Order is an attack on the constitutionally mandated checks and balances that keep American elections free and fair.”
The lawsuit — filed in the D.C. federal court by the Campaign Legal Center and State Democracy Defenders Fund on behalf of a League of United Latin American Citizens, Secure Families Initiative and Arizona Students’ Association — asks a federal judge to block the implementation of parts of the order and force the Trump administration to rescind any guidance they issued.
It names a number of defendants, including the Executive Office of the President, the Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense, as well as the United States Election Assistance Commission and its commissioners — an independent government commissioner focused on election administration.
Trump’s executive order, signed last week, alleged that the United States “fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections.” The order instructs the Department of Justice to prosecute elections crimes in states the administration deems are not in compliance with federal law, requires the Department of Homeland Security to work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to review state voter registration lists, and directs the Election Assistance Commission to withhold federal funding if states do not institute “uniform and nondiscriminatory” standards for counting votes.
“Under the Constitution, State governments must safeguard American elections in compliance with Federal laws that protect Americans’ voting rights and guard against dilution by illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error,” the order said.
Specifically, the executive order calls for proof of citizenship nationwide on the form used when registering to vote — a change from current election laws and a provision voting rights experts have taken issue with. Documents that can be used for proof, according to the order, include a passport, Real ID, a military ID card, or a valid federal or state ID.
But the lawsuit points out that the order does not accept identification documents issued by Tribal governments or birth certificates as forms of proof. The suit also raises questions about the approved methods, arguing that only half of Americans possess a passport and “most” Real IDs do not indicate citizenship.
Regardless, the lawsuit suggests the order’s direction to the Election Assistance Commission to change the form to add the proof of citizenship requirement could violate the Voter Registration Act of 1993, which according to the lawsuit gives the EAC “exclusive authority” to administer the form.
“In keeping with the NVRA’s intent to create a simple and easy-to-complete registration form, the NVRA specifies that the Federal Form may not “include any requirement for notarization or other formal authentication,” the lawsuit states.
Trump’s order suggested that noncitizens can easily vote in federal elections, but experts have called noncitizen voting a “vanishingly rare phenomenon” that is easily prosecuted. According to a study of over 23 million votes cast in the 2016 election, officials identified only 30 suspected incidents of noncitizen voting, only 0.0001% of the total votes cast.
Separately, the executive order also takes aim at mail-in voting, making federal funding conditional on states setting a deadline for ballots to be received by Election Day. Trump — who was charged with multiple federal crimes for his effort to overturn the 2020 election in cases that were dropped once he was elected — has repeatedly suggested that mail-in ballots have led to an increase in voting fraud.
The lawsuit claims the provision about mail-in ballots is unlawful, arguing that “states have wide discretion and flexibility” to establish the time, place, and manner of federal elections under the Elections and Electors Clauses in the Constitution.
“Congress can enact election laws if it chooses, but absent a conflict with federal law, States have the power to establish and follow their own election laws,” the lawsuit states.
According to the suit, seventeen states, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have laws that allow ballots to be counted as long as they are mailed by Election Day and received by a certain deadline afterward.
“Many of these States have had such receipt deadlines for many years, and Congress has declined to pass any laws dictating ballot receipt deadlines,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit notes that Congress has “long established” that the federal Election Day is the first Tuesday in November, in addition to establishing the date that presidential electors must be appointed, but “has left further regulation in this area largely up to States.” The lawsuit says the U.S. Supreme Court “has said that while votes must be cast by Election Day, some aspects of the election process, such as tabulating all votes, will naturally take place after Election Day.”
“The Attorney General does not have the authority to ‘enforce’ the federal Election Day statutes, and the President cannot order her to do so. Nor does a State “violate” those statutes when it counts validly cast ballots mailed by Election Day that are received after Election Day if State law so allows,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also suggests the executive order could make it harder for citizens abroad and those serving in the military to vote. The executive order signed by Trump directs to secretary of defense to update the form used by these groups to register and request an absentee ballot — called the “Federal Post Card Application” — to include a requirement of documentary proof of citizenship as well as “proof of eligibility to vote in elections in the State in which the voter is attempting to vote.”
The lawsuit notes this form is required by law as part of the the The Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, passed in 1986 to “protect the voting rights of Americans serving in the military, their families, and other U.S. citizens living abroad.” The suit claims the changes required by the order would be “impossible given the format required by Congress.”
“Neither the President nor the Secretary of Defense has any legal authority to disregard UOCAVA’s statutory requirement to make such a post card available to military and overseas voters,” the lawsuit states.
Together, these provisions would have a “significant impact” on voting rights., the lawsuit claims.
Members of LULAC — a Hispanic and Latin American civil rights organization — for example, would be harmed if some of its members “who are eligible to vote often do not have the requisite citizenship documents.” the lawsuit states. The organization expects that efforts to register voters “will plummet.”
The Arizona Students’ Association will similarly be harmed by the proof of citizenship requirement, the lawsuit states, despite it being required when voters register on the state form there.
“Even those members who are able to register face imminent harm. Some members will be able to obtain or access DPOC only by spending significant time, money, and/or effort to do so, and will face greater difficulty registering because of the DPOC Requirement,” the lawsuit said.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — Hours before a long-awaited, critical hearing in Erik and Lyle Menendez’s attempts to get out of prison, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office indicated it wants to put Thursday’s hearing on hold.
Lyle and Erik Menendez are set to return to court on Thursday for a high-stakes resentencing hearing that could bring them one step closer to potential freedom, despite objections from Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
Now, in a filing late Wednesday, prosecutors have urged the court to obtain a copy of a recently completed risk assessment conducted on the brothers by the California Board of Parole Hearings at the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The filing by the district attorney’s office urges the judge to delay the sentencing if the court cannot get a copy of the report in time for the hearing.
“On April 15, 2025, the People were made aware that the Parole Board has completed its Comprehensive Risk Assessment Reports for Lyle and Erik Menendez,” the filing states, later adding, “There is no legitimate reason why the Court should not now possess the most current and up to date risk assessments before making any resentencing decisions in this case. The People believe that the Court should have all available information before making any sentencing decisions in this case.”
“To the extent the Court needs additional time to obtain these documents from the Governor’s office, the People request a continuance as necessary,” the filing adds.
The brothers — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez — are fighting to be released after 35 years behind bars.
If the court decides to move forward with Thursday’s resentencing hearing, a judge will decide whether they deserve freedom. Ten family members are ready to take the stand at the hearing, ABC News has learned, while a prison expert and former inmate may also testify.
On Friday, Lyle and Erik Menendez had a major win in court when the judge ruled in their favor at a hearing regarding DA Nathan Hochman’s motion to withdraw the resentencing petition submitted by the previous DA, George Gascón, who supported resentencing and the brothers’ release.
In the DA’s three-hour argument Friday, he argued the brothers — who were listening to the hearing via video — haven’t taken responsibility for their actions and he called their claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.” Hochman also dismissed the brothers’ claim that they were sexually abused by their father.
Menendez attorney Mark Geragos fired back, calling Hochman a “’90s Neanderthal” for refusing to believe the brothers.
The judge on Friday denied Hochman’s motion to withdraw and said the brothers’ resentencing hearing will proceed as planned this Thursday and Friday.
Geragos called the decision “probably the biggest day since they’ve been in custody.”
“They’ve waited a long time to get some justice,” he said.
Hochman said in a statement after the ruling, “We concluded that the case was not ripe for resentencing based on the Menendez brothers’ continuing failure to exhibit full insight and accept complete responsibility for the entire gamut of their criminal actions and cover-up, including the fabrications of their self-defense defense and their lies concerning their father being a violent rapist, their mother being a poisoner, and their trying to obtain a handgun for self-defense the day before the murder.”
“Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety,” he said.
This potential path to freedom gained momentum in October, when Hochman’s predecessor, Gascón, announced he was in support of resentencing.
Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
Gascón’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón — who lost his reelection bid to Hochman in November — praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Over 20 Menendez relatives are in support of the brothers’ release. Several of those relatives spoke with ABC News last week, including cousin Diane VanderMolen, who said Erik Menendez asked her to relay a message.
“They are truly, deeply sorry for what they did. And they are profoundly remorseful,” VanderMolen said. “They are filled with remorse over what they did. And through that, they have become pretty remarkable people.”
Besides resentencing, the brothers have two other possible paths to freedom.
One is their request for clemency to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom announced in February that he was ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether Lyle and Erik Menendez pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.
After the risk assessment, which Hochman said in the filing is now complete, Newsom said the brothers will appear at independent parole board hearings in June.
The other path is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
In February, Hochman announced he was asking the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the brothers’ new evidence wasn’t credible or admissible.
An undated photo found by Vernon, Connecticut, police on the devices of a 17-year-old girl associated with the online network 764 shows a Barbie Doll marked with “764.” (Vernon Police Department)
(WASHINGTON) — FBI officials say they are growing increasingly concerned about a loose network of violent predators who befriend teenagers through popular online platforms and then coerce them into escalating sexual and violent behavior — pushing victims to create graphic pornography, harm family pets, cut themselves with sharp objects, or even die by suicide.
The online predators, part of the network known as “764,” demand victims send them photos and videos of it all, so the shocking content can be shared with fellow 764 followers or used to extort victims for more. Some of the predators even host “watch parties” for others to watch them torment victims live online, according to authorities.
“We see a lot of bad things, but this is one of the most disturbing things we’re seeing,” said FBI Assistant Director David Scott, the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, which is now leading many of the U.S. government’s investigations tied to 764.
The FBI has more than 250 such investigations currently underway, with every single one of its 55 field offices across the country handling a 764-related case, Scott told ABC News in an exclusive interview.
He said the FBI has seen some victims as young as nine, and federal authorities have indicated there could be thousands of victims around the world.
‘Nihilistic violent extremists’
“[It’s] very scary and frightening,” the Connecticut mother of a teen girl caught up in 764 told ABC News.
“It was very difficult to process, because we didn’t raise her to engage in that kind of activity,” said the mother, speaking on the condition that ABC News not name her or her daughter.
Last year, in classic New England town of Vernon, Connecticut, local police arrested the girl — a former honor roll student — for conspiring with a 764 devotee overseas to direct bomb threats at her own community. When police searched her devices, they found pornographic photos of her, photos depicting self-mutilation, and photos of her paying homage to 764.
As Scott described it, one of the main goals of 764 and similar networks is to “sow chaos” and “bring down society.”
That’s why the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and the Justice Department’s National Security Division are now looking at 764 and its offshoots as a potential form of domestic terrorism, even coining a new term to characterize the most heinous actors: “nihilistic violent extremists.”
“The more gore, the more violence … that raises their stature within the groups,” Scott said. “So it’s sort of a badge of honor within some of these groups to actually do the most harm to victims.”
According to an ABC News review of cases across the country, over the past few years, state and federal authorities have arrested at least 15 people on child pornography or weapons-related charges, and accused them in court of being associated with 764.
In one of those federal cases, a 24-year-old Arkansas man, Jairo Tinajero, plotted to murder a 14-year-old girl who started resisting his demands. When he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and child pornography charges three months ago, Tinajero said he believed the murder would raise his stature within the 764 network. His sentencing is set for August.
In another federal case, 19-year-old Jack Rocker of Tampa amassed a collection of more than 8,300 videos and images that the Justice Department called “some of the most horrific, evil content available on the Internet.” He pleaded guilty in January to possessing child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
While amassing his collection, Rocker organized his digital content into folders with titles such as “764” and “kkk-racist.” Another folder, called “trophies,” contained photos of victims who carved his online monikers into their bodies — a form of self-mutilation known as “fan signing.” He also had a folder titled “ISIS,” referring to the international terrorist organization that produced barbaric beheading videos.
Followers of the 764 network share all sorts of violent content with their victims, while some also glorify past mass-casualty attacks such as the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, or introduce victims to other extreme ideologies like neo-Nazism or Satanism, according to authorities.
“They want to desensitize these young people so that nothing really disturbs them anymore,” Scott said.
Just two weeks ago, the Justice Department announced the arrest of a 20-year-old North Carolina man, Prasan Nepal, for allegedly operating an elite online club dedicated to promoting 764, extorting young victims, and producing horrific content. He has yet to be arraigned.
In charging documents, the Justice Department said Nepal helped launch 764 with its Texas-based founder more than four years ago.
Though charging documents don’t identify the founder by name, federal law enforcement sources identified him to ABC News as Bradley Cadenhead, who is serving an 80-year-prison sentence in Texas after pleading guilty to several child pornography-related charges in 2023.
According to court documents, Cadenhead launched his new online community on the social platform Discord and called it “764” because at the time — when he was 15 — he lived in Stephenville, Texas, where the ZIP code begins with the numbers 764.
‘It’s everywhere’
Since the launch of the initial 764 group, which garnered a couple of hundred Discord followers, 764 has become a global movement, with an array of offshoots and subgroups that often rebrand and change their names to help keep social media companies and law enforcement from tracking them.
The original 764 was itself an offshoot of previous extremist and gore-focused groups online.
“Think of this less as a group, and think of it more as an ideology,” Vernon police detective Tommy Van Tasel said of 764 and similar networks. “It doesn’t matter what they’re called. There are a lot of actors out there … encouraging this type of behavior. So it’s everywhere. It’s in every community.”
Indeed, the young Connecticut girl that Van Tasel would eventually investigate was sucked into 764 by a man overseas.
Reflecting what her family described as a typical 764-related encounter, the girl met him on the popular online gaming platform Roblox, and then they began communicating more regularly online, including on Discord, which caters to gamers.
The man convinced her he was her boyfriend, and she sent him sexual photos of herself — the types of images that 764 adherents threaten to share widely if victims don’t comply with their escalating demands.
According to police, she had produced an assortment of 764-related content, including a photo of a nude Barbie doll marked with “764” on its forehead; photos depicting her cutting herself; and a note, written in her blood, calling her supposed boyfriend “a god.”
“They felt like they owned her,” the girl’s mother said.
And, fearing even further extortion, the girl began participating in some of the same threatening behavior that she had endured herself, according to Van Tasel.
Scott said it’s common to “have victims who then become subjects” by perpetrating acts “on behalf of the individual who victimized them.”
According to her family, the Connecticut girl was trained to hack into Roblox accounts and lock them — which allowed her to make demands of account owners if they wanted their accounts back. And she allegedly helped direct a series of threats that rattled Vernon-area schools for three months in late 2023 and early last year.
“I have placed two explosives in front of Rockville High School, and if they fail to detonate, I’m going to walk into there and I’m just going to shoot every kid I see,” a male with a British accent claimed during a call to Vernon police in late January 2024.
Those threats led Van Tasel to the girl whose mother spoke with ABC News. The girl was arrested on conspiracy-related charges and referred to juvenile court.
But even before her arrest, she had started to resist some of the demands that were being directed at her. As a result, her family’s home was bombarded by incidents of so-called “swatting,” when false reports of crimes or violence try to induce SWAT teams to respond to a location in an effort to intimidate targets there.
“One time … they had surrounded our whole house,” the girl’s mother said. “And then that kept going on and on.”
Scott said swatting is a common tactic used by adherents of 764 and similar networks when they don’t get compliance.
The man at the heart of the Connecticut girl’s ordeal is still under investigation by authorities, according to Van Tasel.
‘Be on the lookout’
Van Tasel and Scott offered several tips to parents worried about whether their children could fall victim to 764. In particular, they said parents should watch what their children are doing on applications and online games.
A spokesperson for Roblox agreed, saying in a statement to ABC News that parents should “engage in open conversations about online safety,” especially because 764 is “known for using a variety of online platforms” to evade online safeguards.
A Discord spokesperson, meanwhile, said that 764 is “an industry-wide issue,” and that the “horrific actions of 764 have no place on Discord or in society.”
Both spokespeople said each of their companies is “committed” to providing a safe and secure online environment for users, with both noting that each company uses technology to remove harmful content and, by policy, prohibits behavior endangering children.
Discord added that “behind the scenes” it made “proactive disclosures of information to law enforcement” and, “where possible,” assisted authorities in building the case against Nepal, who allegedly helped launch 764.
Van Tasel and Scott said parents should also look out for changes in their children’s activities or personality, and watch for questionable injuries to family pets or evidence of self-harm.
Scott said that if a child is wearing long-sleeved clothing or trying to cover up their body on hot days, that could be a sign of self-harm.
“Just be on the lookout for any of those things that are alarming, and just have in the back of your mind that this may all be a result of what is happening online,” Van Tasel said, urging parents to call law enforcement if they have concerns.
As for the Connecticut girl caught up in 764, her mother told ABC News that she cooperated with authorities, the case against her is “almost resolved,” and she’s now “back on track” after getting help.
“Back to having friends, back to attending activities,” her mother said. “Not quite back to where she was when it all began, but she’s getting there.”
