Abrego
Garcia
Photo
by:
Graeme
Sloan/Bloomberg
via
Getty
Images
Whether
the
Trump
administration
likes
it
or
not,
the
right
to
a
fair
trial
still
exists.
And
even
the
person
the
government
is
now
subjecting
to
what
looks
a
whole
lot
like
a
vindictive
prosecution
is
still
a
beneficiary
of
this
right.
Kilmar
Abrego
Garcia
was
deported
to
El
Salvador’s infamous
CECOT earlier
this
year
along
with
another
hundred-plus
deportees
the
country’s
dictator
agreed
to
take
off
the
United
States’
hands
in
exchange
for
a
few
million
dollars.
Garcia
kept
fighting
this
deportation,
arguing
that
it
had
violated
his
due
process
rights.
The
administration
kept
fighting
to
keep
Garcia
silent
and
locked
in
a
foreign
hellhole.
The
administration
lost.
A
court
ordered
his
return
to
the
US.
Nothing
got
much
better
once
Abrego
Garcia
returned.
The
government
whipped
up
an
extremely
questionable
criminal
case
against
him
in
order
to
keep
him
jailed.
Then
it
offered
him
the
unpalatable
option
of
pleading
guilty
to
a
bunch
of
criminal
charges
or
being
deported
to
other
countries
with similarly
miserable
histories of
human
rights
violations.
The
judge
handling
the
case finally
released
Abrego
Garcia over
the
recent
holiday
season
and
demanded
the
government
try
to
convince
it
that
it
isn’t engaged
in
purely
vindictive
prosecution of
someone
who
has
angered
it
by
successfully
evoking
his
constitutional
rights.
The
government
won’t
have
to
provide
that
answer
for
another
couple
of
weeks
yet.
In
the
meantime,
though,
it
no
longer
has
a
trial
date
to
look
forward
to.
That’s
been
set
aside
as
the
court
awaits
the
govenrment’s
explanation
for
its
actions.
The
government
has
also
been
hit
with
a
gag
order
that
is
supposed
to
prevent
government
officials
from
further
disparaging
Abrego
Garcia
with
public
comments
and
social
media
posts.
It
violated
that
gag
order
almost
immediately,
with
DHS
sub-boss
Tricia
McLaughlin reposting
a
far-right
podcaster’s
declaration that
Abrego
Garcia
was
a
“MS-13
terrorist.”
This
is
the
sort
of
thing
the
administration
has
been
doing
ever
since
it
was
forced
to
respect
Abrego
Garcia’s
rights.
The
government
definitely
shouldn’t
be
doing
this,
especially
those
involved
with
his
arrest,
deportation,
detainment,
or
otherwise
expected
to
possibly
testify
against
Abrego
Garcia
in
court.
Now, as
Politico’s
Josh
Gerstein
points
out
at
Bluesky,
Abrego
Garcia
is
seeking
sanctions
because
another
government
official
with
a
penchant
for
blatantly
ignoring
court
orders
—
Border
Patrol
Commander Gregory
Bovino —
is
doing
the
sort
of
thing this court
order [PDF]
explicitly
forbids.
Once
again,
the
government
has
responded
to
a
Court
order
with
which
it
disagrees
by
pretending
it
doesn’t
exist.
Mr.
Abrego
moved
for
sanctions
based
on
senior
DHS
official
Gregory
Bovino’s
flagrant
violation
of
this
Court’s
October
27
Order
(Dkt.
183,
the
“Order”)
governing
extrajudicial
statements
relating
to
this
case.
(Dkt.
271).
The
government’s
brief
opposing
that
motion
largely
ignores
the
Order.
[…]
Nor,
in
any
event,
can
Mr.
Bovino’s
statements
seriously
be
characterized
as
ones
“that
a
reasonable
lawyer
would
believe
[are]
required
to
protect
a
client
from
the
substantial
undue
prejudicial
effect
of
recent
publicity”
or
“limited
to
such
information
as
is
necessary
to
mitigate
the
recent
adverse
publicity.”
Far
from
being
“meek,”
as
the
government
ludicrously
characterizes
them
(Dkt.
282
at
7),
Mr.
Bovino’s
statements
include
descriptions
of
Mr.
Abrego
as
“an
MS-13
gang
member…ready
to
prey
on
Americans
yet
again,”
“a
wife-beater,”
“an
alien
smuggler,”
and
someone
who
“wants
to…leech
off
the
United
States.”
Mr.
Bovino
went
on
to
describe
the
judges
presiding
over
Mr.
Abrego’s
civil
and
criminal
cases
as
“activist”
and
“extremist.”
Abrego
Garcia’s
continue
to
press
the
case
for
sanctions
against
the
administration,
adding
to
the
mix
the
comments
DHS
Undersecretary
made
late
last
week
in
apparent
violation
of
the
still-standing
gag
order:
On
December
27,
2025,
DHS
Assistant
Secretary
for
Public
Affairs
Tricia
McLaughlin
shared
a
post
on
X
stating:
“MS-13
terrorist
Kilmar
Abrego
Garcia
was
released
by
a
rogue
judge
and
is
now
making
TikToks.”
Ms.
McLaughlin
added:
“So
we,
at
@DHSgov,
are
under
gag
order
by
an
activist
judge
and
Kilmar
Abrego
Garcia
is
making
TikToks.
American
justice
ceases
to
function
when
its
arbiters
silence
law
enforcement
and
give
megaphones
to
those
who
oppose
our
legal
system.”
Neither
Mr.
Bovino’s
nor
Ms.
McLaughlin’s
statements
“protect”
the
government—they
defame
Mr.
Abrego,
this
Court,
and
the
Federal
District
Court
for
the
District
of
Maryland.
On
top
of
asking
for
sanctions
this
court
has
yet
to
deliver,
Abrego
Garcia
wants
to
know
who’s
handling
what
in
the
upper
echelons
of
the
administration,
since
it’s
become
apparent
that
not
even
high-ranking
officials
appear
to
be
concerned
that
they’re
violating
court
orders.
The
Court
should
grant
Mr.
Abrego’s
requests
that
the
government
be
ordered
to
disclose
(1)
whether
and
how
the
prosecution
provided
relevant
DHS
employees
with
a
copy
of
the
Order,
(2)
who
authorized
Mr.
Bovino
and
Ms.
McLaughlin
to
speak
about
Mr.
Abrego’s
case,
and
(3)
what
guidance
that
person
or
persons
gave
Mr.
Bovino
and
Ms.
McLaughlin
about
what
they
could
and
could
not
say
on
national
television
or
social
media,
as
well
as
all
communications
between
counsel
for
the
government
and
Mr.
Bovino,
Ms.
McLaughlin,
or
DHS
regarding
Mr.
Bovino’s
and
Ms.
McLaughlin’s
statements,
including
any
attempts
to
obtain
a
retraction
or
apology,
so
that
the
Court
may
determine
the
appropriate
course
of
action.
It’s
a
long
shot
and
the
government
is
sure
to
insist
that
pretty
much
everything
listed
here
is
a
privileged
communication
between
lawyers
and
government
officials.
But
there’s
a
chance
some
of
this
might
actually
make
its
way
into
open
court,
which
will
allow
the
American
public
to
see
how
this
administration
operates
when
it
clearly
feels
it
doesn’t
have
to
answer
to
anything
but
its
basest
urges.
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