Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia say they are concerned he can't get a fair trial in his human smuggling case because Trump administration officials keep attacking him with “highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements.”
The attorneys are asking a federal judge in Tennessee to order U.S. government officials involved with his case — including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — to hold back on their comments.
“For months, numerous representatives of the same federal government that is responsible for prosecuting this case have publicly disparaged Mr. Abrego’s character and reputation,” his attorneys wrote in a filing on Thursday night, adding that officials have “expressed the opinion that he is guilty of the crimes charged and far worse.”
The Salvadoran national and former Maryland construction worker became a lightning rod over President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration policies when he was wrongfully deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Trump's Republican administration claimed he was an MS-13 gang member, which he has repeatedly denied and for which he wasn't charged.
Facing a U.S. Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia in June, but only to face the federal human smuggling charges in Tennessee. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty, while his attorneys have called the case preposterous and vindictive.
The Trump administration is trying to deport Abrego Garcia again, this time to the African country of Uganda. He was taken into immigration custody on Monday after a federal judge in Tennessee released him from jail, determining he's not a flight risk or a danger to the community.
The Trump administration alleges Abrego Garcia is a danger and is trying to deport him before trial, which is scheduled for January. Abrego Garcia's immigration attorneys said this week that he'll request asylum in the U.S.
In Thursday's filing, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys in Tennessee referred to statements from officials that label him as someone who's committed various crimes, even though he hasn't been convicted. For instance, they cited statements from Noem that he is an MS-13 gang member and “a horrible human being and a monster."
The attorneys also cited statements from Bondi, who told Trump this week that Abrego Garcia “needs to be in prison, he doesn’t need to be on the streets like all these liberals want him to be. ... We are going to keep America safe from all of these foreign terrorist organizations, including Abrego Garcia.”
This isn't the first time his attorneys have raised such concerns. They asked a federal judge in Tennessee to intervene earlier this summer.
In late July, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. issued an order to lawyers involved with the case, saying they must “ensure that any proper public communications include that the Indictment only contains allegations.”
“Our Constitution requires that Abrego is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury,” the judge wrote.
Thursday's filing asks the judge to issue an order for “officials that are involved in this case, and all officials in their supervisory chain, including Attorney General Bondi and Secretary Noem."
The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter in an email to The Associated Press. Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire in Tennessee, who is prosecuting the human smuggling case, also declined to comment.
The Department of Homeland Security said in an emailed statement that the media has peddled a sob story about Abrego Garcia that has "completely fallen apart."
“If Kilmar Abrego Garcia did not want to be mentioned by the Secretary of Homeland Security, then he should have not entered our country illegally and committed heinous crimes," the statement said.
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