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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of Education said Friday that it will proceed with withholding federal funds from Maine after officials in the state refused to sign a Title IX resolution agreement that would bar transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports in the state.

The matter will also be deferred to the Department of Justice “for further enforcement action,” the department said in a statement.

The actions come after the state informed the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in a letter on Friday that the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Office of the Attorney General will not sign the resolution agreement.

“Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams,” Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster stated in the letter. “Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds. To the contrary, various federal courts have held that Title IX and/or the Equal Protection Clause require schools to allow such participation.”

Federal officials last month said they found the Maine Department of Education in noncompliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order issued on Feb. 5 that bans transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

In a final warning letter sent to the state on March 31, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights gave the Maine Department of Education until April 11 to sign the resolution agreement before moving forward with the consequences for noncompliance.

The Department of Education said Friday it will now “initiate an administrative proceeding to adjudicate termination of MDOE’s federal K-12 education funding, including formula and discretionary grants,” as well as refer the case to the DOJ.

“The Department has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state’s leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety, privacy, and dignity,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement on Friday. “The Maine Department of Education will now have to defend its discriminatory practices before a Department administrative law judge and in a federal court against the Justice Department.”

Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills “would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom — be careful what you wish for. Now she will see the Trump Administration in court,” he added.

Mills previously told Trump she would see him in court over the matter at a White House event with a bipartisan group of governors in February.

As Trump discussed his executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, he asked Mills directly, “Are you not going to comply with that?”

She responded that she would comply with state and federal laws.

“Well, I’m — we are the federal law,” Trump said, adding, “Well, you better do it. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”

Mills responded: “See you in court.”

“Good,” Trump replied. “I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be an easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

After the White House gathering, Mills responded to Trump’s threat to withhold federal funding in a statement, saying, “If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides. The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President’s threats.”

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Alexandra Hutzler, and Jack Moore contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) —  The federal judge overseeing the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, slammed the government’s handling of the case Friday and ordered the Justice Department to provide her with “daily updates” on its efforts to bring him back.

“From now until compliance, [I am] going to require daily statuses, daily updates,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said at a hearing in Maryland on Friday. “We’re going to make a record of what, if anything, the government is doing or not doing.”

The judge said she will require updates on Abrego Garcia’s location, what steps the Trump administration has taken to facilitate his return, and what additional steps the government will take to return him.

The judge said the Supreme Court, in its ruling on the matter late Thursday, was quite clear in directing the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia.

“The Supreme Court has spoken quite clearly,” Judge Xinis said. “And yet, I can’t get an answer today about what you’ve done in the past, which means, again, the record as it stands, is that nothing has been done.”

Judge Xinis began the hearing by asking the government to answer where Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia is — but Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign told the judge that he does “not have the information” regarding Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts.

“Where is he and under whose authority?” Xinis repeatedly asked.

“I do not have that knowledge, and therefore I cannot relate that knowledge,” Ensign said.

“I’m not asking for state secrets, I’m asking where one man who is wrongly and illegally deported, removed from this country [is],” Xinis said.

“Your Honor, I do not have the information provided to me that I can provide to you,” Ensign said again.

The judge decided to go ahead with Friday’s hearing after the Trump administration sought to delay the hearing until next week. The Justice Department on Friday morning asked her to reschedule the hearing for Wednesday, April 16, two days after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to meet with the White House — but the judge, in a filing, kept the hearing date as scheduled.

Judge Xinis scheduled the hearing after the U.S. Supreme late Thursday affirmed her earlier ruling ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States after he was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison last month.

Judge Xinis had also ordered the Trump administration to file, by 9:30 a.m. ET Friday, a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge acknowledging the current physical location of Abrego Garcia and what steps the administration will take to facilitate his immediate return.

Attorneys for DOJ requested the deadline for the supplemental declaration be moved to next week, but in her filing the judge moved the deadline back by only two hours. In response, the DOJ told Judge Xinis in a filing that they were unable to provide her the information she requested on such a short deadline.

“In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court’s Order following the dissolution of the administrative stay in this case, Defendants are not in a position where they ‘can’ share any information requested by the Court. That is the reality,” the DOJ’s filing said.

“It is unreasonable and impracticable for Defendants to reveal potential steps before those steps are reviewed, agreed upon, and vetted,” they added. “Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review.”

The Supreme Court on Thursday largely upheld Judge Xinis’ ruling last week ordering the Trump administration to bring Abrego Garcia back.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.

Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”

The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration has emphasized its role in carrying out foreign policy, which was also cited in the high court’s order.

The Supreme Court said the lower-court judge should “clarify” her earlier order “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”

In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, the attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News that “the rule of law prevailed.”

“The Supreme Court upheld the District Judge’s order that the government has to bring Kilmar home,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving.”

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) —  A deputy assistant attorney general told the judge overseeing the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, that he does “not have the information” regarding Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis began a hearing Friday on Abrego Garcia’s deportation by asking the government to answer where Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia is.

“Where is he and under whose authority?” she repeatedly asked.

“I do not have that knowledge, and therefore I cannot relate that knowledge,” DOJ attorney Drew Ensign said.

“I’m not asking for state secrets, I’m asking where one man who is wrongly and illegally deported, removed from this country [is],” Xinis said.

“Your Honor, I do not have the information provided to me that I can provide to you,” Ensign said again.

The judge decided to go ahead with Friday’s hearing after the Trump administration sought to delay the hearing until next week. The Justice Department on Friday morning asked her to reschedule the hearing for Wednesday, April 16, two days after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to meet with the White House — but the judge, in a filing, kept the hearing date as scheduled.

“Your Honor, I do not have the information provided to me that I can provide to you,” Ensign said again.

The judge decided to go ahead with Friday’s hearing after the Trump administration sought to delay the hearing until next week. The Justice Department on Friday morning asked her to reschedule the hearing for Wednesday, April 16, two days after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to meet with the White House — but the judge, in a filing, kept the hearing date as scheduled.

Xinis, at the start of the hearing, said has three questions for DOJ: The current physical location and custodial status of Abrego Garcia, what steps the Trump administration has taken to facilitate his return, and what additional steps the government will take and when to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.

Judge Xinis scheduled the hearing after the U.S. Supreme late Thursday affirmed her earlier ruling ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States after he was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison last month.

Judge Xinis had also ordered the Trump administration to file, by 9:30 a.m. ET Friday, a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge acknowledging the current physical location of Abrego Garcia and what steps the administration will take to facilitate his immediate return.

Attorneys for DOJ requested the deadline for the supplemental declaration be moved to next week, but in her filing the judge moved the deadline back by only two hours. In response, the DOJ told Judge Xinis in a filing that they were unable to provide her the information she requested on such a short deadline.

“In light of the insufficient amount of time afforded to review the Supreme Court’s Order following the dissolution of the administrative stay in this case, Defendants are not in a position where they ‘can’ share any information requested by the Court. That is the reality,” the DOJ’s filing said.

“It is unreasonable and impracticable for Defendants to reveal potential steps before those steps are reviewed, agreed upon, and vetted,” they added. “Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review.”

The Supreme Court on Thursday largely upheld Judge Xinis’ ruling last week ordering the Trump administration to bring Abrego Garcia back.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.

Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”

The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration has emphasized its role in carrying out foreign policy, which was also cited in the high court’s order.

The Supreme Court said the lower-court judge should “clarify” her earlier order “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”

In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, the attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News that “the rule of law prevailed.”

“The Supreme Court upheld the District Judge’s order that the government has to bring Kilmar home,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving.”

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BOCA RATON, Fla.) — All three people on board a small plane were killed when the aircraft crashed in Boca Raton, Florida, on Friday morning, according to local officials and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The “aircraft had apparently some mechanical issues and went down here on Military Trail,” Michael LaSalle, assistant fire chief for Boca Fire Rescue, said at a news conference. “Also, there was a car on the ground.”

One man in the car suffered non-life-threatening injuries, LaSalle said.

The Cessna 310R took off from Boca Raton Airport and was heading to Tallahassee International Airport, the FAA said. It was in the air for a little less than 20 minutes before it crashed, according to Flightradar24.

Dillon Smith was at his office when he saw the plane flying “extremely low” and appearing like it would hit the roof of a nearby building, he told West Palm Beach ABC affiliate WPBF.

“I saw the plane, basically, turn, come back, and I heard it and saw it go over our building,” Smith said.

He lost sight of the plane, but said it then “came back — it was looking like maybe it was going toward the [nearby Boca Raton] airport.”

“I just saw it drop below the trees” and “heard a boom,” Smith said. He said his office windows shook and he saw a “fireball.”

Video shows what appears to be the small plane’s wreckage on railroad tracks next to a road. The fire caused by the crash has been extinguished.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BOCA RATON, Fla.) — A small plane with three people on board crashed in Boca Raton, Florida, on Friday morning, according to local police and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Cessna 310R took off from Boca Raton Airport and was heading to Tallahassee International Airport, the FAA said. It was in the air for a little less than 20 minutes before it crashed, according to Flightradar24.

Dillon Smith was at his office when he saw the plane flying “extremely low” and appearing like it would hit the roof of a nearby building, he told West Palm Beach ABC affiliate WPBF.

“I saw the plane, basically, turn, come back, and I heard it and saw it go over our building,” Smith said.

He lost sight of the plane, but said it then “came back — it was looking like maybe it was going toward the [nearby Boca Raton] airport.”

“I just saw it drop below the trees” and “heard a boom,” Smith said. He said his office windows shook and he saw a “fireball.”

Video shows what appears to be the small plane’s wreckage on railroad tracks next to a road. The fire caused by the crash has been extinguished.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(COVINGTON, Ga.) — A Walmart employee killed one co-worker and injured another in an after-hours shooting spree that started at the store and ended with the individual killing another co-worker at a nearby home, according to law enforcement officials.

The initial shooting took place in a Walmart branch in Covington, Georgia, about 35 miles east of Atlanta, at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, according to the Newton County Sheriff’s Office.

An employee allegedly exited the building shortly before the shooting, retrieved a firearm and returned inside, according to a preliminary investigation.

The suspect then located a male acquaintance within the store, and fatally shot them, according to the sheriff’s office.

The suspect later encountered a second acquaintance outside Walmart and shot him as well. That person was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, according to the sheriff’s office.

The suspect then left the area and went into a neighborhood where they forced entry into a residence, found another female acquaintance and fatally shot her, the sheriff’s office said.

“This was not an active shooter situation. The suspect specifically targeted individuals they knew,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The suspect fled the area and had a brief standoff with Aiken County, South Carolina, sheriff’s deputies and South Carolina State Troopers. The suspect then apparently shot himself and was taken to a local hospital, according to the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office. Aiken County is on the Georgia-South Carolina border, about two hours from Covington.

No deputies were injured. The suspect remains in custody as he is being treated, officials said.

The investigation remains active and ongoing.

“We’re heartbroken by what’s happened. There’s no place for violence in our stores. We’re focused on taking care of our associates and supporting law enforcement with their investigation,” Walmart said in a statement Friday.

ABC News’ Alex Faul contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Maryland says she’ll go ahead with Friday’s hearing in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, after the Trump administration sought to delay the heating until next week.

The Justice Department on Friday morning asked U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to reschedule the hearing for Wednesday, April 16, two days after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to meet with the White House — but the judge, in a filing, kept the hearing date as scheduled.

Judge Xinis scheduled the hearing after the U.S. Supreme late Thursday affirmed her earlier ruling ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States after he was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison last month.

Judge Xinis had also ordered the Trump administration to file, by 9:30 a.m. ET Friday, a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge acknowledging the current physical location of Abrego Garcia and what steps the administration will take to facilitate his immediate return.

Attorneys for DOJ requested the deadline for the supplemental declaration be moved to next week, but in her filing the judge moved the deadline back by only two hours.

The Supreme Court on Thursday largely upheld Judge Xinis’ ruling last week ordering the Trump administration to bring Abrego Garcia back.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.

Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”

The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration has emphasized its role in carrying out foreign policy, which was also cited in the high court’s order.

The Supreme Court said the lower-court judge should “clarify” her earlier order “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”

In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, the attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News that “the rule of law prevailed.”

“The Supreme Court upheld the District Judge’s order that the government has to bring Kilmar home,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving.”

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(BOCA RATON, Fla.) — A small plane crashed in Boca Raton, Florida, on Friday morning, according to local police.

Video shows what appears to be the small plane’s wreckage on railroad tracks next to a road. The fire caused by the crash has been extinguished.

Additional information was not immediately available.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has asked a federal judge in Maryland to reschedule a hearing set for Friday in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis scheduled the hearing after the U.S. Supreme late Thursday affirmed her earlier ruling ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States after he was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison last month.

Attorneys for the Department of Justice requested that Friday’s hearing to be rescheduled for Wednesday, April 16. That date is two days after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to meet with the White House.

The hearing is currently scheduled tor 1 p.m. ET Friday.

Judge Xinis had also ordered the Trump administration to file, by Friday morning, a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge acknowledging the current physical location of Abrego Garcia and what steps the administration will take to facilitate his immediate return.

Attorneys for DOJ requested the deadline for the supplemental declaration be moved to next week.

The Supreme Court on Thursday largely upheld an earlier order issued by the lower-court judge ordering the Trump administration to take steps to return the man.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.

Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”

The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration has emphasized its role in carrying out foreign policy, which was also cited in the high court’s order.

The Supreme Court said the lower-court judge should “clarify” her earlier order “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”

In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, the attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News that “the rule of law prevailed.”

“The Supreme Court upheld the District Judge’s order that the government has to bring Kilmar home,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving.”

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to overturn her sex-trafficking conviction, arguing she was covered by a non-prosecution agreement the government made with her former paramour, Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. She was convicted on five counts of aiding Epstein in his abuse of underage girls in December 2021.

A federal appeals court rejected her argument that Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement, arranged in 2007, barred her prosecution in New York. She urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider her case.

“Despite the existence of a non-prosecution agreement promising in plain language that the United States would not prosecute any co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, the United States in fact prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell as a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein,” her attorneys wrote in their petition.

Maxwell said the US Supreme Court should resolve differences of opinion among federal appeals court as to whether a non-prosecution arranged in one district can be enforced in another.

“A defendant should be able to rely on a promise that the United States will not prosecute again, without being subject to a gotcha in some other jurisdiction that chooses to interpret that plain language promise in some other way,” defense attorney David Markus wrote.

Four women testified at trial they had been abused as minors at Epstein’s homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands and said Maxwell, the daughter of British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, had talked them into giving Epstein massages that turned sexual. They testified they were lured with gifts and promises about how Epstein could use his money and connections to help them.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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