Xinis was born in Mineola, New York, graduated from the University of Virginia and went to Yale Law School. She clerked for Judge Diana Gribbon Motz on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She was an assistant federal public defender in Maryland and adjunct professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

The federal judge overseeing the case of erroneously deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia agreed Wednesday to a week's delay in discovery that was supposed to get the case moving.