Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, argued Obama-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis relied on what he calls “crackpot” legal logic by ruling that the visa used to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S. for prosecution nullified his standing 2019 deportation order.
On Thursday, Xinis ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to immediately release Abrego Garcia from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, claiming that the 2019 final order of deportation issued by Immigration Judge David M. Jones is an invalid document for his removal.
Pappert, who, along with The Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy and Executive Editor Christina Botteri, won the prestigious 2025 Dao Prize for coverage of Abrego Garcia, stressed that the visa – issued only so an already-deported noncitizen can appear in U.S. court on new criminal charges – has never been interpreted as wiping out a final order of removal.
He said Xinis’ reasoning effectively reimagines immigration law and contradicts both the plain text of the 2019 order and a recent immigration-judge ruling that reaffirmed its validity just weeks ago.
“This is extremely insane in my humble opinion, especially when you consider that an immigration judge just weeks ago upheld the 2019 deportation order,” Pappert said on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
He explained that when a previously deported individual is brought back to the U.S. solely to face criminal charges, federal authorities must provide a temporary visa or parole status to allow the prosecution to proceed.
This temporary status, Pappert said, has no bearing on the validity of an existing deportation order, and treating it as grounds to nullify that order is a misapplication of the law.
He added that, under Xinis’ own reasoning, Abrego Garcia would become deportable again the moment a jury delivers a verdict.
“Following her own logic here, the second a jury comes down and says guilty or not guilty in this case, then he’s deportable again, according to this woman’s crackpot theories,” Pappert said.
Pappert further stressed how Xinis improperly elevated herself above immigration judges by declaring the deportation order non-operative, even though immigration judges had twice confirmed that Abrego Garcia remains deportable to any country except the one protected by withholding of removal.
He explained that the 2019 order is explicitly titled a “Final Order of Deportation” and includes a withholding clause only for Guatemala – not El Salvador – despite Xinis’ repeated claims that the order never commanded removal or mislabeled the country in question.
“I don’t know what [Xinis] thinks she’s doing. It seems to me as though not only is she issuing orders that don’t make sense and fall apart on their face when you examine them logically, but it seems as though this district court judge is trying to assume the authority of an immigration judge,” Pappert said.
Pappert went on to criticize what he calls the judge’s selective portrayal of the case, noting that Xinis framed Abrego Garcia’s Tennessee indictment as potentially “vindictive” while glossing over the facts of the 2022 traffic stop where Abrego Garcia was allegedly transporting nine illegal aliens in a vehicle tied to a convicted smuggler.
He agreed with host Leahy, who said this pattern makes the ruling read less like an impartial judicial opinion and more like a defense brief, adding, “It’s utterly insane.”
With Xinis’ Thursday’s ruling, Pappert said he expects the Trump administration will seek an emergency stay from the Fourth Circuit, where he says the administration has historically prevailed.
“I’m just hoping it happens very quickly. The Trump administration has a great track record with the Fourth Circuit. I think it’s above 90 percent success when it comes to its appeals, and that’s because of insane district court judges like Paula Xinis,” he said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
