Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have asked a federal judge in Tennessee to order the Trump administration to stop making statements about his case after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly called him a "horrible human being" who should "never be released."
Abrego, a Maryland resident, was erroneously deported in March to El Salvador, and his case became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, sparking concerns over a lack of due process. He’s now being held in Nashville, Tennessee, on human smuggling charges.
In a filing Tuesday, Abrego’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, who is overseeing the human smuggling case, to ensure the government complies with the court’s rules regarding extrajudicial statements to ensure Abrego is afforded a fair trial.
Noem made the comments about Abrego’s case at a news conference Friday in Nashville to announce recent arrests of "criminal illegal aliens."
"He has a lifetime history of trafficking individuals and of taking advantage of minors, soliciting pornography from them, nude photos of them, abusing his wife, abusing other illegals, aliens that were in this country, women that were under his care while he was trafficking them," Noem said. "He’s a horrible human being and a monster, and he should never be released free."
Abrego’s attorney Sean Hecker wrote in the latest filing: "These comments — made by a sitting cabinet secretary (and one of the Nation’s highest ranking law enforcement officials) in this District, mere miles from the courthouse where Mr. Abrego’s case is pending — are precisely of the type that are most likely to prejudice Mr. Abrego’s right to a fair trial."
"Secretary Noem assailed Mr. Abrego’s character and reputation, including with verbal insults and allegations that are irrelevant to the offenses charged in the indictment and almost certainly inadmissible at trial," he continued.
Hecker argued that Noem went out of her way to make the remarks to local media and that the statements "are not just highly likely to taint the jury pool; they appear calculated to maximize the prejudice to Mr. Abrego."
On Monday, the defense requested that the government issue a retraction, but the Trump administration did not respond.
The court had already ordered both the government and the defense on July 3 to stop making public statements about Abrego’s case to ensure a fair trial.
The new filing asks Crenshaw to clarify the requirements of Local Criminal Rule 2.01 in Tennessee, which says a lawyer participating in an investigation or litigation must not make extrajudicial statements that could prejudice a proceeding.
"In light of the July 18 press conference, Mr. Abrego also requests that this Court order the government to notify all officials at DHS that are involved in the investigation of Mr. Abrego, and all officials in their supervisory chain, of the requirement to comply with this Court’s rules regarding extrajudicial statements," the filing said.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement, "If Kilmar Abrego Garcia did not want to be mentioned by the Secretary of Homeland Security, then he should have not entered out country illegally and committed heinous crimes."
Abrego, 29, was deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador in March. The Trump administration later said he was deported in an “administrative error.” His deportation was in direct violation of an order a judge issued in 2019 to prevent his deportation to El Salvador, where he was born and claimed to have been in danger of gang violence.
He was brought back to the United States in June after a high-profile back-and-forth between his attorneys and the federal government. The Trump administration doubled down in painting Abrego as a gang member — claims he denies.
Upon his return to the United States, he was charged with two federal felonies in U.S. District Court in Nashville: conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain. Abrego has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
