GREENBELT, MD – A federal judge declined Tuesday to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return a Maryland father wrongly deported to El Salvador but admonished government attorneys for failing to provide evidence of what they were doing to bring him home.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland ordered the U.S. to show what steps it is taking to comply with a court ruling to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia , a Salvadoran national who was expelled from the U.S. in March.

Xinis said Abrego Garcia's attorneys would be allowed to take the sworn testimony of government officials in the case and that the process could take two weeks.

"There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship and grandstanding," she said.

Xinis' warning follows a ruling last week by the U.S. Supreme Court , which said the administration must begin the process of releasing Abrego Garcia, who has lived in the U.S. for more than a decade. Abrego Garcia was sent to a violent prison in El Salvador despite a previous court order protecting him from deportation to that country.

U.S. officials contend Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang and say they have no authority to free him because he is imprisoned in a foreign country. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said during a visit to the White House on Monday that he would not release Abrego Garcia and called the suggestion “preposterous.”

Representing the Trump administration, attorney Drew Ensign said Bukele's comments in the Oval Office showed that Abrego Garcia's case "was raised with the highest authority in El Salvador."

Xinis, however, said Bukele's response, including his comments that he could not "smuggle a terrorist" back into the U.S., would be considered "a non-responsive answer if that were in a court of law."

Rina Gandhi, an attorney for Abrego Garcia's family, called the judge's order a "win," even though she did not hold the administration in contempt. At a minimum, the four government officials who have provided updates to the courts will be asked to provide sworn testimony, she said.

Abrego Garcia, a union sheet metal worker and father of three, has been at the center of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

The legal fight over his removal a month ago and possible return to the United States has ended up in the Supreme Court . His case has ramifications for hundreds of others expelled to a notorious Salvadoran prison after President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport people the administration accused of being gang members.

The Trump administration says Abrego Garcia, 29, is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang. However, the government hasn’t provided evidence requested by Xinis to support the accusation against Abrego Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally as a teenager to flee gang violence in El Salvador.

In 2019, police stopped Abrego Garcia and three others while he was looking for work at a Home Depot parking lot in Maryland and turned him over to federal immigration agents.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have said Immigration and Customs Enforcement accused him of being an MS-13 gang member based on a local police gang report. The report said Abrego Garcia was in the gang because he wore a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, which officials alleged are apparel worn by gang members, according to Abrego Garcia's attorneys.

Additionally, the report cited a confidential informant saying Abrego Garcia was a member of an MS-13 clique in Long Island, New York. However, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys say he has never lived in New York.

Trump administration officials have repeatedly said he was a gang member, pointing to the local police report that ICE used. Abrego Garcia hasn’t been convicted or charged with any crimes.

On March 12, federal immigration agents pulled him over as he returned from work and detained him in an Ikea parking lot near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, just outside of Washington.

Three days later, American immigration officials expelled him and hundreds of other migrants to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. The administration has said it has a $6 million agreement to house the migrants in the facility for one year. The prison has been criticized for its harsh and dangerous conditions, as well as its rough treatment of prisoners.

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The Trump administration admitted in court documents that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, which it blamed it on an “ administrative error .” But the Justice Department said it has no authority to return him to the United States because he is in a foreign country. U.S. attorneys also argue that the judge calling for his return amounts to interference in the president’s executive powers to oversee foreign affairs.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and their 5-year-old son, who was in the back seat when he was detained, sued the government for his return.

Xinis ruled on April 4 that the Trump administration acted illegally when it deported him. Six days later, the Supreme Court directed the administration to facilitate his return. The next day, April 11, Xinis ordered the Trump administration to provide immediate information on his whereabouts and plans to return him to the United States.

In daily updates, Trump administration officials have provided little information on his status, only to say he is “ alive and secure ” in CECOT.

A half-hour before Tuesday's hearing, protesters outside the courthouse showed their solidarity with Abrego Garcia and his family.

“Justice for Kilmar now,” they chanted.

“No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” they said.

Demonstrators walked in a circle holding signs that read “Defend the rule of law” and “Kilmar’s deportation is a disgrace.”

Speaking to a crowd of demonstrators and reporters, Abrego Garcia’s wife said her family was "torn apart" after her husband was "abducted and disappeared by the United States government."

“My heart aches for my husband, who should have been here leading our Easter prayers,” she said. “Instead, I find myself pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games.”

"Kilmar needs to come home," she said. "Enough is enough."