Supporters of Kilmar Abrego Garcia rallied as a judge in Maryland heard arguments over whether the Salvadoran native should be returned to the state ahead of his trial on federal human smuggling charges.

Abrego Garcia's attorneys filed an emergency motion last week seeking to have him returned to Maryland as he awaits trial, but government attorneys say they will seek to deport him to a country other than his native El Salvador, where he is prohibited from being sent due to a 2019 court order.

I suppose it was inevitable that in a case over whether the Trump administration can defy federal court orders without consequence, a trial judge would emerge as a main character. In the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case,