Judge threatens sanctions against Bondi, Noem over Abrego Garcia comments
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A federal judge in Tennessee is threatening Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, and other Department of Justice and DHS employees with sanctions if they make any prejudicial statements regarding the criminal case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, who is overseeing the case, wrote in a filing Monday: “DOJ and DHS employees who fail to comply with the requirement to refrain from making any statements that are ‘likely to materially prejudice’ this criminal prosecution may be subject to sanctions.”
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was deported before being extradited back to the United States earlier this year, faces federal charges related to human trafficking and conspiracy. Bondi described her as a full-time smuggler who made more than 100 trips across the United States transporting women, children and people affiliated with the MS-13 gang.
“The high-profile nature of the immigration case has caused government officials and supporters of Abrego to comment regularly to the media. Now that he has been indicted in this District, Abrego is asking the Court to freeze extrajudicial comments to secure his Constitutional right to an impartial jury,” Crenshaw wrote in a memorandum opinion.
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Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia arrives at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Baltimore, Maryland, on Monday, August 25, 2025. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In that filing, the judge wrote: “Media interest in Abrego began in March 2025, when the United States transferred him to El Salvador, months before his indictment in the Middle District of Tennessee.”
“Government officials made troubling extrajudicial statements, particularly many of which were exaggerated, if not false. These statements made claims about Abrego’s ‘character or reputation’ and expressed government officials’ views about Abrego’s ‘guilt or innocence,'” the judge wrote. he said.
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife, Jennifer, speak to supporters outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Baltimore, Maryland. (Fox News Digital/Breanne Deppisch)
The judge continued: “For example, the DHS Secretary stated that Abrego was an ‘MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator.’… Similarly, on June 6, 2025, the Attorney General stated that Abrego ‘played a significant role in the alien smuggling ring’… [that] This was his full time job, not contracting… [that] [h]He was a trafficker of people, children and women… [and that] [h]”I’ve made over 100 trips.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat in this statement photo obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025. (Statement via Abrego Garcia Family/REUTERS)
Crenshaw also declared that Trump Cabinet members violated a district court rule limiting disclosure by government officials regarding an active criminal case; but he did not decide not to give a speech. Policy.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Justice and Homeland Security for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
