Judge in Abrego Garcia case tells Trump administration to moderate public comments to ensure a fair trial

Source: CNN

Judge in Abrego Garcia case tells Trump administration to moderate public comments to ensure a fair trial

PUBLISHED Jul 31, 2025, 2:59 PM ET
By Devan Cole

The federal judge in Tennessee overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s criminal case told the Trump administration on Thursday that officials must moderate their public comments about him to ensure he received a fair trial.

The order from US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw comes a week after attorneys for Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year and brought back to the US in June to face human smuggling charges, complained to the judge about “inflammatory” comments Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others made about him earlier this month.

“To ensure that Abrego receives a fair trial, all counsel are subject to” rules prohibiting extrajudicial statements that could interfere with a criminal defendant having a fair trial, Crenshaw, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in the brief order.

“All counsel and those working with counsel shall ensure that any proper public communications include that the Indictment only contains allegations,” the judge added. “Our Constitution requires that Abrego is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury.”

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/31/politics/abrego-garcia-fair-trial