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(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge overseeing the wrongful deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Wednesday denied a motion from the Trump administration to further delay discovery in the case.

The order came a week after the judge paused expedited discovery for seven days after the Trump administration asked her for the stay.

The judge, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, earlier this month slammed the administration over its inaction over Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention and ordered government officials to testify under oath through expedited discovery.

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.

Following her order Wednesday, Judge Xinis set new deadlines for the government to respond to requests.

By May 5, the government must answer and respond to all outstanding discovery requests and supplement their invocations of privilege consistent with the court’s previous orders, Xinis ruled.

The depositions of four government witnesses who plaintiffs say have knowledge of the circumstances in the case must be completed by May 9, she ordered.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers may seek the court’s permission to conduct up to two additional depositions, Judge Ximis said.

The plaintiffs have a deadline of May 12 to renew their motions for relief, which previously asked the court to order the government to comply with the order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S., and to order the government to show cause why it should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with the court’s prior orders.

The government will have until May 14 to respond to that motion, Xinis said.

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. His wife and attorney have denied that he is an MS-13 member.

In 2019, an immigration judge determined that Abrego Garcia was removable from the U.S. based on allegations of his gang affiliation made by local police in Maryland. But Abrego Garcia was subsequently granted withholding of removal to his home country.

Judge Xinis early this month ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, and the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that ruling, “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”

Tuesday, in an exclusive interview with ABC News to mark his 100th day in office, President Trump said he “could” secure the return of Abrego Garcia, and “if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that” — before adding, “I’m not the one making this decision.”

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(PITTSBURGH) — Four people have died in Pennsylvania as severe storms hammered much of the U.S. on Tuesday night.

A long-lived destructive thunderstorm wind event, known as a derecho, traveled more than 500 miles from eastern Indiana through central Pennsylvania on Tuesday afternoon. Wind gusts reached 80 mph as the more than 60-mile-wide storm complex knocked down trees and power lines along its destructive path.

In Franklin Township in eastern Pennsylvania, high winds knocked down a tree, which then fell onto a car, killing a passenger inside, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

In State College in central Pennsylvania, a 22-year-old man was fatally electrocuted when he was putting out a mulch fire caused by live wires knocked down in the storm, officials said.

Two other victims died in the Pittsburgh area in western Pennsylvania, according to Allegheny County officials.

Many schools in western and central Pennsylvania are running on a delay or have canceled classes Wednesday as more than 400,000 customers in the state remain without power.

The four fatalities came as severe weather hammered much of the country from Texas to New York on Tuesday night.

Wind gusts climbed over 100 mph in Texas and neared 90 mph in Missouri.

Three confirmed tornadoes struck Oklahoma and Missouri, uprooting large trees, damaging buildings and destroying roofs.

The severe weather threat continues on Wednesday, impacting Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

A tornado watch has been issued for parts of northeast Texas, eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph and scattered, large hail are also possible.

Life-threatening flash flooding is also a major threat Wednesday in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas.

One to 5 inches of rain is possible Wednesday from Fort Worth, Texas, to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and more than 6 inches is possible in parts of southeast Oklahoma.

This comes after 2 to 5 inches of rain fell Tuesday from north Texas to Oklahoma City to Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the last week, this area has seen 800% of its normal rainfall for this time of year — so adding more rain on top of that will easily spark flash flooding. Oklahoma City is expected to break its record for wettest April ever on Wednesday.

On Thursday, there’s a chance for severe storms bringing damaging winds and hail from San Antonio to Buffalo, New York.

By Saturday, the system will be much less severe, but light rain is expected from the Gulf to the Northeast.

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(SYRACUSE, N.Y.) — The district attorney in Syracuse, New York, is giving a group of high school students 48 hours to turn themselves in for an alleged hazing incident that he describes as a “criminal matter.”

“I cannot really adequately express to this community the level of stupidity and lack of judgement involved in this case,” Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Fitzpatrick said he decided to prosecute charges against 11 students at Westhill High School who allegedly hazed a younger student on April 24.

In the evening hours of April 24, the students, who are members of the boys varsity lacrosse team, allegedly decided they would “haze or play some sort of prank on some of the younger members of the lacrosse team,” Fitzpatrick said.

One victim told officials he thought he was going to have an “enjoyable evening with the upperclassman, go to a lacrosse game and finish the evening with something to eat at McDonald’s,” Fitzpatrick said.

But, on their way home from eating food, the driver of the car claimed he was lost, stopped in a remote part of the county, which is when “accomplices jumped out of the woods pretending to be kidnappers,” Fitzpatrick said.

These accomplices, who were other students, were dressed in black and armed with “at least one handgun and at least one knife,” Fitzpatrick said.

The victim had a pillowcase placed over his head, was tied up and placed in the trunk of the car, according to the DA.

“I’ve seen the video tape of what happened to this young man, it is not a rite of passage, it is not a trivial matter,” Fitzpatrick said. “I find it incomprehensible that in this day and age that somebody thought they could have gotten away with something like this.”

Investigators say there were four other potential victims, but they were able to flee the area.

The incident, which Fitzpatrick describes as “hazing on steroids,” said the 11 suspects that were involved have 48 hours to turn themselves into the sheriff’s department.

If the suspects decide to surrender to police before Friday, their case will either be handled through the family court system or will not fall under their criminal records, Fitzpatrick said.

But, if they refuse to cooperate, the suspects will be arrested, prosecuted as adults and charged with kidnapping in the second degree, the DA said.

He said that this incident “goes way beyond hazing,” likening it more to “criminal activity.”

“If you want to welcome someone onto your team and toughen them up, maybe an extra hour of practice might be appropriate as opposed to taking someone at gunpoint, stuffing them in the back of a car and traumatizing them for the rest of their life,” Fitzpatrick said.

Westhill Schools Superintendent Steven Dunham sent an email to families regarding the incident, saying the school made the “difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the Westhill High School varsity boys lacrosse season,” even though the majority of those on the team were not involved in the alleged hazing.

“Some may argue that all student-athletes shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few. While I understand the perspective, we must address the culture of the program, and the most appropriate way to do that is with a reset,” Dunham said.

Dunham said the school will address the behavior that “negatively impacts members of our school community promptly and appropriately according to our Code of Conduct.”

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(NEWARK, Del.) — A University of Delaware student was killed and several other people were injured when a U-Haul truck driver fled from police and collided with people near campus, officials said.

On Tuesday afternoon, officers in a parking lot spotted a U-Haul truck that had been reported Monday “as an unauthorized use vehicle” after it was rented but was not returned when due last month, Newark police said.

As officers moved in to arrest the U-Haul driver and passenger, the driver drove through the parking lot, going over a curb and hitting a marked police car, according to police.

The driver ignored the officers’ commands and sped out of the parking lot, police said, adding that the “officers did not engage in a vehicle pursuit and remained in the shopping center.”

The U-Haul driver then sped down a street, hitting two pedestrians who were standing next to a parked car, according to police. The truck then hit several parked cars before coming to a stop, police said.

One of the two pedestrians — a University of Delaware student whose identity has not been released — died at the scene, according to police and the university.

The second pedestrian was hospitalized with serious injuries, police said.

Another three victims were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries and three people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, police said. University of Delaware students are also among the injured, university officials said.

Officers responded to the disabled U-Haul and detained the driver and the passenger, police said, adding that the driver was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Police said the crash “appears to be an isolated criminal and traffic incident.”

“This is a terrible tragedy,” university President Dennis Assanis and Vice President for Student Life José-Luis Riera said in a letter to the university. “We speak for the entire University in offering our condolences to the families, friends and classmates of the victims, and keep the other members of our community in our thoughts who may have witnessed the crash and its aftermath.”

“The safety of our entire community remains our top priority, and we will continue to work with our partners in city and state government to address safety concerns around and on the UD campus,” they added.

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(NEW YORK) — The 9/11 health program that monitors and treats thousands of people exposed to toxic dust during the 2001 terrorist attack is under threat — again.

A wave of staffing cuts and agency turmoil has thrown the World Trade Center Health Program into crisis, disrupting a system that has provided life-saving care to tens of thousands of people for more than two decades.

Experts warn that cancer diagnoses could be delayed, mental health needs could go unmet and the federal government would break its promise to “never forget.”

“This isn’t about politics — it’s about humanity,” said John Feal, a former 9/11 responder and founder of the FealGood Foundation. “We’re not going away. We’re going to keep coming back until they do the right thing.”

At the center of the controversy is a series of staffing cuts within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the agency that certifies 9/11-related illnesses as valid and oversees the World Trade Center Health Program, which administers care to first responders and survivors of the 2001 terrorist attack in lower Manhattan.

Earlier this year, a 20% staffing cut to the World Trade Health Center Program led to the termination of 16 doctors and nurses, reducing the clinical team to 72, Feal explained.

After a bipartisan outcry, those positions were reinstated in February.

But in April, a second round of cuts eliminated another 16 staffers. Whether those cuts involved any of the reinstated individuals from the first cut is unknown, but they left the program roiling and once again undermined its ability to provide timely care.

In addition to the second round of cuts in April, Dr. John Howard, the longtime program leader, was also removed. He was then quickly reinstated after political pressure.

More than 150,000 people are currently enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, up from about 76,000 in 2015.

The program had been preparing to grow its staff to meet rising demand. Instead, it is now struggling to function, according to Michael Barasch, a lawyer with Barasch & McGarry, a firm that represents thousands of 9/11 first responders and survivors.

Barasch told ABC News that patients are waiting six to eight months for appointments.

“This is a program with zero fraud that only does one thing: It saves lives,” Barasch said. “Mark my words: People will die without it.”

Toxic dust from the attacks contained a dangerous mix of chemicals and debris: asbestos, ground glass, benzene, chromium, lead. Those exposed — first responders, recovery workers, office staff, students, residents — potentially face higher rates of at least 69 cancers, as well as respiratory disease and post-traumatic stress.

“If he had it in his lungs, so does everybody else,” Barasch said, referring to NYPD Detective James Zadroga, whose death at age 34 in 2006 was linked to inhaling the hazardous air. “So we’re all ticking time bombs.”

The World Trade Center Health Program was established through the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which was permanently reauthorized in 2015.

But funding projections failed to account for medical inflation or growing enrollment. A bipartisan bill known as HR 1410 would fix the shortfall, but it remains stalled in Congress.

Feal said he thought the system isn’t just overwhelmed — it’s collapsing.

“We’ve built a program that saves lives and gives people dignity,” he said. “Letting it fall apart now dishonors everyone who ran toward danger that day.”

Barasch noted that many lawmakers — especially those outside of New York — may not realize the scope of the damage or how many of their own constituents are affected.

“People in all 50 states are enrolled in the program,” he said. “Thousands of them no longer live near the original attack sites. They need care where they are.” He urged everyone to call their senators and representatives and remind them of the promise made to the 9/11 community.

In meetings on Capitol Hill with lawmakers this week, Feal said he and other advocates seem to have found a sympathetic audience. Even so, he remains skeptical: “They listen — but will they act? That’s the question.”

An HHS spokesperson told ABC News in an email: “The World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program’s Clinical Centers of Excellence and Nationwide Provider Network are continuing to provide services to program members at this time. The program continues to accept and review new enrollment applications and certification requests.”

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(COLCHESTER, Vt.) — A federal judge in Vermont ordered the release Wednesday of Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student who was arrested two weeks ago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents following his citizenship interview, while his case proceeds.

“The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said at a hearing Wednesday. “Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released.”

Mahdawi, addressing supporters outside the courthouse following his release, called the judge’s decision “a light of hope.”

“Judge Crawford, who ruled to release me against all of the heinous accusations, horrible attacks, chills of speech, First Amendment violations — he had made a very brave decision to let me out,” Mahdawi said. “And this is what justice is. And for anybody who’s doubting justice, this is a light of hope, a hope and faith in the justice system in America.”

“To President Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” Mahdawi said.

Saying that Mahdawi presents no flight risk, Judge Crawford said Mahdawi should remain in Vermont, where he has a home, and attend school remotely — but said Mahdawi can travel to New York City to meet with his lawyers and go to his university.

Mahdawi, who co-founded a university organization called the Palestinian Student Union with detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank before moving in 2014 to the U.S., where he has been a legal resident for the last 10 years.

Mahdawi, who is expected to graduate from Columbia next month, was arrested at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Vermont, where he was taking his last step in the process to become a U.S. citizen.

Judge Crawford noted at Wednesday’s hearing that Mahdawi received letters of support from over 90 community members, including members of the Jewish community, “who have in a consistent pattern described him as peaceful.”

His lawyers believe that, like Khalil, he is being targeted by the Trump administration under Immigration and Nationality Act section 237(a)(4)(C)(i), which assert that the secretary of state can deem a person deportable if they have reasonable ground to believe that the person’s presence or activities in the U.S. could have adverse foreign policy consequences.

At Columbia, Mahdawi was an “outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and an activist and organizer in student protests on Columbia’s campus until March of 2024, after which he took a step back and has not been involved in organizing,” according to a habeas petition obtained by ABC News.

“He’s being detained based solely on his First Amendment rights — his speech,” Luni Droubi, one of Mahdawi’s attorneys, previously told ABC News. “That’s a violation of the law, that’s a violation of the Constitution, and he should be released immediately as a result of the detention.”

“I think Mr. Mahdawi has made substantial claims that his detention was in retaliation for his protected speech,” Judge Crawford said Wednesday.

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(COLCHESTER, Vt.) — A judge has ordered that Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student who was arrested two weeks ago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents following his citizenship interview, be released from detention while his case proceeds.

“The two weeks of detention so far demonstrate great harm to a person who has been charged with no crime,” U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said at a hearing Wednesday. “Mr. Mahdawi, I will order you released.”

Saying that Mahdawi presents no flight risk, Judge Crawford said Mahdawi should remain in Vermont, where he has a home, and attend school remotely — but said Mahdawi can travel to New York City to meet with his lawyers and go to his university.

Mahdawi, who co-founded a university organization called the Palestinian Student Union with detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank before moving in 2014 to the U.S., where he has been a legal resident for the last 10 years.

Mahdawi, who is expected to graduate from Columbia next month, was arrested at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Vermont, where he was taking his last step in the process to become a U.S. citizen.

Judge Crawford noted at Wednesday’s hearing that Mahdawi received letters of support from over 90 community members, including members of the Jewish community, “who have in a consistent pattern described him as peaceful.”

His lawyers believe that, like Khalil, he is being targeted by the Trump administration under Immigration and Nationality Act section 237(a)(4)(C)(i), which assert that the secretary of state can deem a person deportable if they have reasonable ground to believe that the person’s presence or activities in the U.S. could have adverse foreign policy consequences.

At Columbia, Mahdawi was an “outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and an activist and organizer in student protests on Columbia’s campus until March of 2024, after which he took a step back and has not been involved in organizing,” according to a habeas petition obtained by ABC News.

“He’s being detained based solely on his First Amendment rights — his speech,” Luni Droubi, one of Mahdawi’s attorneys, previously told ABC News. “That’s a violation of the law, that’s a violation of the Constitution, and he should be released immediately as a result of the detention.”

“I think Mr. Mahdawi has made substantial claims that his detention was in retaliation for his protected speech,” Judge Crawford said Wednesday.

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(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors said no one from the state or federal government eavesdropped on a jailhouse phone conversation between accused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione and his lawyer.

Defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo claimed at a court appearance last week that prosecutors at the Manhattan district attorney’s office had been “eavesdropping” on a call after federal prosecutors provided them with a recording.

Judge Margaret Garnett asked for an explanation, which federal prosecutors provided in a court filing.

“To be sure, no one at [the Manhattan DA’s office] or the Government ‘eavesdropped’ on the defendant on a live basis,” prosecutors said in the filing Tuesday. “Rather, consistent with well-known practice in federal and state jails, many of the defendant’s calls are recorded with notice of the recording provided to him and the person on the other side of any calls.”

Prosecutors said a paralegal inadvertently listened to a call between Mangione and Agnifilo but stopped as soon as it became clear it was a lawyer on the other end of the line.

Prosecutors reminded Agnifilo there are ways for attorneys to bypass recorded lines when setting up calls with incarcerated clients and told the judge no further action was needed.

Mangione is accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel as Thompson headed to an investors conference on Dec. 4. Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the assassination-style killing.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges. The federal charge of murder through the use of a firearm would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

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