Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who entered the United States illegally and has faced a string of criminal allegations, reportedly filed a motion Thursday asking a federal judge to silence two of the nation’s top law enforcement officials.
The request, submitted in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, seeks to bar Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi from making what Abrego Garcia’s attorneys describe as “baseless public attacks” on their client.
The attorneys argue that comments from senior Trump administration officials have prejudiced the case.
“To safeguard his right to a fair trial, Mr. Abrego respectfully renews his earlier requests that the Court order that all DOJ and DHS officials involved in this case, and all officials in their supervisory chain, including [Bondi and Noem], refrain from making extrajudicial comments that pose a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing this proceeding,” the lawyers wrote in a 15-page motion to Judge Waverly Crenshaw.
The push for a gag order comes after Noem accused Abrego Garcia of being tied to MS-13, the violent gang with deep roots in El Salvador and a long history of brutal crimes in the United States. Abrego Garcia’s legal team has denied the connection.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, has taken a far harder line. “He doesn’t belong here. He won’t be staying here. America is a safer nation without this MS-13 Gangbanger in it,” DHS said in a social media post on Monday.
Abrego Garcia’s case has taken a convoluted path. After being deported to a notorious Salvadoran megaprison in March, he was returned to the United States to face human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop.
Earlier this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers rearrested him in Baltimore, just days after he was released from custody in Tennessee.
Following his latest detention, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers were told he could be deported to Uganda, raising questions over the administration’s next move.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis stepped in, ruling Monday that the administration was “absolutely forbidden” from removing him until a hearing could be held to determine whether he would be allowed to challenge deportation to a third-world country.
Trump administration officials have not backed down from their public posture. “If Kilmar Abrego Garcia did not want to be mentioned by the Secretary of Homeland Security, then he should have not entered our country illegally and committed heinous crimes,” a DHS official told The Hill.
“Once again, the media is falling all over themselves to defend this criminal illegal MS-13 gang member who is an alleged human trafficker, domestic abuser, and child predator,” the official continued. “The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal alien has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story.”
The official added, “We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”
The Justice Department declined to comment.
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