Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyer has filed a motion with a federal judge in the United States, requesting a gag order against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi to prevent them from making public attacks on the immigrant who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
On Thursday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer submitted a motion to the Middle District Federal Court in Tennessee, asking Judge Waverly Crenshaw, who is responsible for overseeing the human trafficking criminal case involving the immigrant, to issue an order prohibiting Noem and Bondi from conducting “unfounded public attacks” against him.
In the motion, the lawyer wrote, “In order to ensure that Mr. Abrego receives a fair trial, he hereby reiterates his previous request: requesting the court to order all Justice Department and Homeland Security officials involved in this case, as well as all officials in their chain of command (including Bondi and Noem), not to make any out-of-court statements that could seriously damage this litigation.”
Homeland Security posted on social media on Monday, stating, “He does not belong here, he will not stay here. The United States is a safer country without this MS-13 gang member here.”
Noem also posted on social media platform X on Monday, saying, “The American people would be safer if this MS-13 gang member wasn’t freely roaming the streets of our country.”
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer denies that the client he represents is a member of MS-13.
Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador, and according to his lawyer, he entered the United States in 2011 at the age of 16 to escape gang violence in El Salvador. His lawyer also stated that in 2019, a confidential informant informed US authorities that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang. Abrego Garcia later submitted an I-589 form to the US immigration authorities to apply for asylum. Although an immigration judge determined that he could be deported to El Salvador, the execution of that decision was temporarily postponed.
Since 2019, Abrego Garcia has held a work permit in the United States. His wife and a five-year-old child are both American citizens.
In mid-March of this year, the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia as a member of the Venezuelan gang “Tren de Aragua” to a prison in El Salvador, but he later returned to the United States after several twists and turns. This deportation sparked a series of legal disputes and became a politically sensitive issue attracting attention due to its involvement in the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies.
Abrego Garcia currently faces two cases: one immigration case where US authorities are seeking to deport him to a third country; and another criminal case in which the US Justice Department accuses him of conspiring with at least five members of a smuggling group to illegally bring immigrants into the United States between 2016 and 2025.