Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garica, the man wrongly deported to El Salvador earlier this year, are yet again asking the federal judge overseeing his human smuggling criminal case to order Trump administration officials to stop making negative comments about him that they say could jeopardize his right to a fair trial.
The request made Thursday to US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee comes as public attention has turned back on the Maryland father of three days after he was released from criminal custody pending his trial in the case, only to face new efforts by the government to quickly deport him again.
His attorneys say that in recent days, comments from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as posts made on the Department of Homeland Security X account and statements by others, have presented a “substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing” his trial, which is set to begin in January.
“This past Friday, Mr. Abrego’s release from pretrial detention reignited the efforts of officials across the Executive Branch – and particularly at DHS – to besmirch both Mr. Abrego and the courts in a campaign to try this case in the court of public opinion,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote in a 15-page filing to the judge.
Crenshaw, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, has previously told the Trump administration that officials must moderate their public comments about Abrego Garcia to ensure he receives a fair trial.
In an order issued late last month, the judge reminded all counsel and those working with them that they’re required to follow rules prohibiting extrajudicial statements that could interfere with a criminal defendant having a fair trial.
But Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said in their filing Thursday that the recent comments violate those very rules. They pointed to statements made all the way up to Thursday morning, when Trump border Czar Tom Homan said during a Fox News appearance that their client is “a gang member, terrorist, wife beater, pedophile, human trafficker, (and) alien smuggler.”
Noem has also attacked Abrego Garica this week, writing in a post on X Monday, “The American people are safer without this MS-13 gangbanger in our country roaming freely on our streets. No more. Good riddance.”
“Regrettably, the previous efforts of both the court and the defense have not worked. They have not stemmed the tide of inflammatory extrajudicial statements from government officials,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote. “Further intervention from the Court is necessary to protect Mr. Abrego’s right to a fair trial and the integrity of these proceedings.”
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