Attorneys representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia have filed a motion seeking a gag order against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Abrego Garcia is currently fighting efforts to deport him to Uganda, even though he is originally from El Salvador. He is also facing charges for allegedly participating in a human smuggling operation to transport illegal immigrants around the country.
The motion is asking the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee to prohibit the two officials from making public statements about Abrego Garcia that could prejudice his pending criminal trial.
The filing states that the DOJ, DHS, and the White House have waged a vicious media campaign against Abrego Garcia. Officials have made “numerous highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements” about him. The document states that this violates his right fo a fair trial.
The attorneys provide several examples of remarks made by the two officials. Secretary Noem called Abrego Garcia a “MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator.” she also referred to US District Judge Paula Xinis as a “publicity hungry Maryland judge.”
Abrego Garcia has denied being a gang member. The DOJ intimated that he abused his wife and children, but is not charging him for these alleged actions. His wife filed multiple restraining orders against him, alleging that he physically assaulted her.
The motion also highlights President Donald Trump, who called Abrego Garcia an “animal” who “beat the hell out of his wife.”
The defendant argues that these statements violate prior court orders mandating compliance with local and state law. It notes that the “government’s ongoing barrage of prejudicial statements severely threaten—and perhaps have already irrevocably impaired—the ability to try this case at all—in any venue.”
NEWS
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) August 28, 2025
Once again, Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers seek an order blocking the Trump admin's "inflammatory" campaign to disparage their client before trial — including through this image on the White House and DHS official accounts, their "pièce de resistance." pic.twitter.com/Kj4jUepnRT
CNN reported that Judge Xinis recently issued a ruling blocking the government from deporting Abrego Garcia, who first entered the country illegally in 2011 at the age of 16. She scheduled an evidentiary hearing for October 6 and mandated that the defendant remain in the country until she rules on his case within 30 days of the hearing.
Another court filing accuses the Trump administration of trying to force Abrego Garcia into a plea deal. The DOJ and DHS threatened to send him to Uganda if he refused to plead guilty to the smuggling charges. However, if he complied, he would be sent to Costa Rica. The attorneys argue that deporting Abrego Garcia to Uganda would endanger his safety.