A Judge Ordered the U.S. to Detail Its Efforts to Return a Deported Man

A federal judge in Maryland ordered the Trump administration today to provide daily updates about its progress toward returning a migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who administration officials acknowledge was wrongly deported nearly a month ago to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

“We are going to make a record of everything the government is doing and not doing,” the judge, Paula Xinis, said.

Her order temporarily defused a showdown between the judicial and executive branches after a contentious day in court. Earlier, Trump administration lawyers had defied the judge’s order to provide a written explanation of its plans to free Abrego Garcia. The lawyers also repeatedly stonewalled her efforts to get even the most basic information.

When the judge asked what the Trump administration had done so far to “facilitate” the release of Abrego Garcia, a Justice Department lawyer responded, “The defendants are not yet prepared to share that information.”

“That means they’ve done nothing,” the judge said.

The administration’s lawyers said they would comply with last night’s Supreme Court ruling, which instructed them to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. But the fiery clashes in the courtroom left open the possibility of a standoff in the future.

In related news, an immigration judge ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia student activist, could be deported. Legal hurdles remain.

In other politics news:

The U.S. and Iran will hold nuclear talks. Here’s why.

Representatives of the U.S. and Iran are planning to hold discussions tomorrow in Oman about a potential nuclear deal. Iran’s leader, who has banned engaging with Washington, agreed to begin negotiations only after top Iranian officials insisted to him at an urgent meeting that declining to do so could result in the Islamic Republic’s rule being toppled.

Farnaz Fassihi, our U.N. bureau chief, said that Iran was seeking sanctions relief to improve the dire state of its economy. “For the U.S.,” Farnaz added, “Iran’s rapid escalation of nuclear enrichment and ability to produce bombs, if they choose to do so, is not acceptable.”

Some Apple employees are worried about the company

Even before Trump’s tariffs threatened to upend Apple’s manufacturing business in China, the company’s struggle to make new products was leading some people inside its lavish Silicon Valley headquarters to wonder whether the company had somehow lost its magic.

My colleague Tripp Mickle, who covers the company, explained: Apple’s big new efforts, a virtual reality headset and an A.I. system, have run into problems. And some employees worry that, despite the company’s years of gravity-defying profits, it is being hamstrung by political infighting, penny pinching and talent drain.

More top news

• Health: The mayor of Florida’s most populous county, Miami-Dade, vetoed a plan to remove fluoride from drinking water.

• Gaza: The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for neighborhoods in Gaza City. Some 390,000 people have been displaced in the past few weeks, according to the U.N.

• Russia: Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, met with President Vladimir Putin to discuss cease-fire talks over the war in Ukraine.

• Vatican: The pope made a surprise visit to St. Peter’s Basilica — in an even more surprising outfit.

• Climate: Countries around the world reached a remarkable, though modest, agreement on a tax to reduce shipping pollution.

• California: More than 35 years after they killed their parents in Beverly Hills, Lyle and Erik Menendez are closer than ever to freedom, in part because they’ve been model prisoners.

• Housing: People experiencing homelessness can sleep in their cars in Frisco, a wealthy ski town in Colorado, but only if they have a job.

• Entertainment: Eric Dane, the actor known as “McSteamy” for his role on “Grey’s Anatomy,” said that he has A.LS.

Rami Malek, professional outcast

The actor Rami Malek sees a through line that connects some of his most recognizable roles. He was a hoodie-wearing hacker in “Mr. Robot,” the Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody” and, now in theaters, a C.I.A. cryptographer who takes matters into his own hands in “The Amateur.”

In each, Malek said, he is embodying an outsider who proves his doubters, including himself, wrong. We talked to him about why he picked the roles.

For more: We asked the director of “The Amateur” to narrate a sequence from the film in which he blows up a pool.

Who wants to run Vanity Fair?

The top editor of Vanity Fair was once the envy of American journalism. The role held a sheen of sophistication and cultural sway, and it came with seemingly limitless expense accounts. But this month, when the magazine’s current boss announced that she would step down, there was suddenly a debate: Is it still a good job?

Many in the industry still insist it is. But the discussion itself is a sign of how much the magazine world has contracted. “I guess the question is whether this is a job managing legacy media decline,” said Ben Smith, the top editor of Semafor, “or a job where someone can have some fun.”

A beautiful place to sneeze

The world’s best golfers are competing this weekend in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. It is one of the game’s most beloved courses — a serene landscape of perfectly manicured Bermuda grass surrounded by majestic trees and more than 30 varieties of bright azaleas.

It is also an allergy nightmare this time of year. Players have tried sunglasses, medication and low-histamine diets to battle the conditions, which a local allergy and rheumatology expert said were “another order of magnitude in Augusta.”

Have a cleareyed weekend.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday. — Matthew

Philip Pacheco was our photo editor.

We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.