Judge to hear DOJ’s deportation plan for Abrego Garcia if he’s released from custody
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A court hearing over the next steps for accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia resumes Thursday in Maryland.
Abrego Garcia, who was brought back to the U.S. from detention in El Salvador to face charges of human smuggling in Tennessee, is expected to be released on bond as he awaits trial.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis heard arguments from Abrego Garcia’s legal team, which is seeking to have their client transferred from Tennessee to Maryland.
Government attorneys say the administration’s plan, should Abrego Garcia be released on bond, is to deport him to a third country.
Judge Xinis on Monday ordered the government to produce witnesses with personal knowledge of what Abrego Garcia’s deportation plan would look like.
During Thursday’s hearing, government officials are expected to “address, among other topics, the asserted lawful bases for detention, the nature and timing of any notice to be provided to Abrego Garcia, the location of any proposed custody or transfer, and the procedural steps Defendants intend to pursue,” the judge wrote in her order.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had 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, which he denies.
He was brought back to the U.S. last month to face charges in Tennessee of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty.
Late Wednesday, Justice Department attorneys said in a court filing that they had sought to have the case dismissed by agreeing to not deport Abrego Garcia to El Salvador without first winning court approval and pledging to follow procedures before sending him to a third country — but that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys had rejected those terms.
(WASHINGTON) — On the heels of the public war of words between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, anxiety is mounting among the remaining staff of the Musk-founded Department of Government Efficiency, with some staffers worried not only about their future in government but about potentially becoming future targets of the administration, according to sources.
Some DOGE staffers still embedded across federal agencies fear that the rift and public mudslinging between Trump and Musk could leave them vulnerable to political retribution and damage their future job prospects, multiple sources familiar with internal discussions told ABC News.
Some fear their association with DOGE could make them targets if the feud escalates and Trump moves to investigate the government-slashing initiative that Musk led until he stepped away last week, the sources said.
Others worry that if Trump distances himself from DOGE, their ties to it could become a professional liability, said sources.
Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, grew close to Trump over the last year as he campaigned for Trump’s reelection before helping launch DOGE to try to fulfill Trump’s goal of slashing the federal government. A quasi-governmental entity, DOGE has generated controversy as it’s shuttered government agencies and gained access to sensitive data.
The relationship between the president and the world’s richest person erupted into an exchange of insults on social media Thursday as Musk slammed Trump for “ingratitude” over the 2024 election while Trump threatened to “terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts.”
Amid the spat, War Room host and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Trump who has been critical of Musk for years, has been calling for the president to launch investigations into the billionaire following Thursday’s blowup.
“This is a national security issue,” Bannon said on his show Thursday. “We’re dealing with a very unstable individual out saying dangerous things about the president of the United States. He must be investigated … and all government contracts should be suspended.”
Several of Musk’s top allies who served as special government employees with Musk, including Steve Davis, his longtime lieutenant and DOGE operational lead, departed DOGE last week along with Musk. But many DOGE employees remain embedded across federal agencies, including at the Office of Personnel Management, Veterans Affairs, Treasury, IRS, and Social Security Administration, sources said.
Still, Musk’s departure marked a major turning point for DOGE and how it will function day to day, given officials like Davis helped lead the DOGE team on a daily basis for months across the federal government.
In Musk’s absence, DOGE staff will continue to report to their respective agency leadership, sources said. Last week, the White House said that moving forward the “DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s cabinet and the president himself.”
Sources tell ABC News that some DOGE staffers still working inside the federal government have begun looking for jobs elsewhere. And while there is concern among some about their future career prospects, some major tech companies have expressed interest in hiring DOGE alumni — with companies like Coinbase even creating a dedicated hiring portal specifically recruiting former DOGE staff.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields told ABC News in a statement, “The mission of eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse is a part of the DNA of the federal government and will continue under the direction of the President, his cabinet, and agency heads to enhance government efficiency and prioritize responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”
Asked about any potential investigations into DOGE, a White House adviser said the president was only focused on passing his signature spending bill, known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Despite Trump and Musk’s public feud, the president has yet to publicly criticize DOGE during the war of words, and has previously lauded the initiative.
At a White House press availability in the Oval Office last week, Trump said Musk “delivered a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and described DOGE as “the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations”.
Musk, for his part, downplayed the idea that DOGE needed him to survive as he left the Trump administration last week.
“DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism,” he said. “You wouldn’t ask the question, ‘Who would lead Buddhism?'”
(BROOKLYN PARK, MN) — A Minnesota state representative and her husband were shot and killed, and a state senator and his wife were shot and wounded in an “act of targeted political violence” at their homes early Saturday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said.
A manhunt is now underway for the gunman who was impersonating a police officer, authorities said.
State Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband were shot and killed in what appears to be a “politically-motivated assassination,” Walz said at a news conference.
Hortman, formerly the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, “was a formidable public servant,” the governor said of his friend. “She is irreplaceable.”
State Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife were both shot multiple times and underwent surgery, the governor said.
“We’re cautiously optimistic they will survive this assassination attempt,” Walz said.
The two shooting locations are a few miles away from each other in Champlin and Brooklyn Park, just north of Minneapolis.
Hoffman and his wife were shot around 2 a.m. in Champlin, Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Drew Evans said.
After Hoffman was shot, officers were heading to pro-actively check on Hortman when they encountered the suspect at Hortman’s home around 3:35 a.m., Evans said.
The officers found a person who was dressed as a police officer — wearing a vest and a badge, and with a Taser and other equipment — at the door, coming out of Hortman’s house, police said.
The suspect fired at the officers; gunfire was exchanged and the suspect was able to escape and flee on foot, authorities said.
The suspect’s vehicle — which looked like a police vehicle, including police lights — was in Hortman’s driveway, authorities said.
A list of other possible targets was retrieved from the suspect’s vehicle, authorities said. Police said the list had “many lawmakers,” including the victims.
Security resources have been dispatched to protect those people named on the list, authorities said.
The gunman did say something to the victims, police said, but authorities did not reveal what that was.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting and said “such horrific violence will not be tolerated,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on social media.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said she’s closely monitoring the situation.
“This horrific violence will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she said in a statement.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also condemned the violence and said “every leader must unequivocally condemn it.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, formerly the Minnesota Democratic party chair, said he’s friends with both Hoffman and Hortman.
“Speaker Hortman was a leader in every sense of the word — from ushering in free lunch for our kids, to protecting women’s rights and reproductive care, to standing up for Minnesota families,” Martin said in a statement. “Melissa was also a close friend whom I’ve known since the very start of her political career. She was someone I personally relied on for advice, counsel, and friendship and I am beyond words. As I said many times when I introduced her at events, she is the very best Speaker of the House that Minnesota has ever had.”
“This senseless violence must end. These heinous murders are a reflection of the extremism and political violence that have been fomented in our country,” Martin said. “Today, we recommit ourselves to fight harder for the values that Melissa and Mark embodied — building a kinder, more just, and loving world. If this murderer thinks we will be silenced, he’s wrong.”
With the manhunt ongoing, police are urging community members to be cautious. Brooklyn Park is under a shelter in place order, officials said.
Police warned, if an officer comes to your door, call 911 to confirm that the officer is supposed to be there.
“Police are asking that no one open their door to a lone police officer,” the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office said. “Licensed officers are working in pairs.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(MORRIS COUNTY, NJ) — Drivers riding on Interstate 80 spotted an unexpected present the morning after last Christmas — a sinkhole just feet away from where cars were passing by in suburban New Jersey.
“Look at how far it goes under there,” a man says in police video footage obtained by ABC News on Friday. “They may have to shut the whole [expletive] road down.”
It was a prediction that turned out to be true.
Ever since the sinkhole was spotted along one of the busiest highways in the Northeast on Dec. 26, 2024, parts of I-80 have been closed to drivers on and off.
The closures have angered local business owners and caused congestion on detour routes that frequently paralyzes the streets of Wharton along with surrounding communities in Morris County.
The formation of the sinkhole was quickly linked to the region’s mining heritage, with the collapse of an abandoned mineshaft under I-80 identified as the cause. Additional sinkholes have popped up in the time since December’s collapse.
The video footage, which was recorded by a New Jersey State Police trooper and released in response to a request filed by ABC News under New Jersey state law, shows two drivers standing steps from the sinkhole in shock.
“We just went by and were like, ‘holy [expletive],’” one man tells the trooper while steam appears to be rising from the sinkhole in front of them.
“I’ve never seen nothing like this,” another man says.
Within a few minutes, troopers shut down two of the eastbound lines of the highway.
“The entire shoulder seems to have collapsed,” a trooper says over his police radio.
This stretch of I-80 is frequently used by both local commuters along with long-distance drivers traveling between the New York metropolitan area and Pennsylvania, Upstate New York or the Midwest.
Commuters impacted by detours were encouraged to ride New Jersey Transit trains since the agency has a station in Mount Arlington, west of the area where the sinkholes formed, but rail service is currently suspended due to a strike by engineers.
In a press release issued Friday, the New Jersey Department of Transportation announced that two eastbound lanes on I-80 may reopen as soon as May 21, with the entire highway slated to reopen by June 25.
