Kilmar Abrego Garcia calls for sanctions against Trump officials
Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia is seeking to have a federal judge hold Donald Trump's administration accountable after top officials repeatedly labeled him a gang member and wife-beater, along with making other "highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements" about the Salvadoran immigrant who was wrongly deported, according to his attorneys.
A judge issued a gag order in October that blocks officials from making “any extrajudicial statements” that could compromise a fair trial against Abrego Garcia, who is battling criminal charges in one court while seeking protection against his deportation in another, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Greg Bovino, the top border patrol official for Trump's mass deportation campaign, has since labeled him an “MS-13 gang member,” a “wife beater,” and an “alien smuggler” while also calling the judge overseeing a criminal case against him an “activist” and “extremist” during appearances on Fox News and Newsmax this month.
His statements follow an avalanche of attacks against Abrego Garcia, who is fighting to stay in the country with his wife and U.S. citizen children after his release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in a case that has been a lightning rod in Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.
His attorneys are back in court Monday to argue against the government’s attempts to send him back to ICE detention — after just days of freedom before Christmas.
Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a brutal prison in his home country in March over what government officials admitted was due to an “error,” and several federal judges and a unanimous Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return after his “illegal” arrest.
But the government spent weeks battling court orders for his return while officials launched a barrage of attacks against him, declaring that he would never again step foot in the country.
He was then abruptly returned in June to face allegations that he illegally moved other immigrants across the country. He has pleaded not guilty.
ICE swiftly brought him back into custody after a judge allowed him to stay out of jail pending trial in his criminal case.
Since then, the administration has tried to deport him to at least six different countries, including African nations Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia and Uganda.
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