Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia ― the man wrongfully deported to El Salvador earlier this year ― are seeking a gag order against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In a motion filed Thursday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued that officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have leveled “baseless public attacks” targeting their client since his release from prison.
“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 federal judge overseeing his case.
Abrego Garcia, 30, was wrongfully deported in March to an El Salvador prison with a reputation for human rights abuses. He was returned to the U.S. in June and now faces charges of human smuggling, which his lawyers have argued is an absurd and vindictive prosecution.
Abrego Garcia turned himself in to immigration authorities in Baltimore on Monday and faces renewed threats of being deported, this time to Uganda.
