Top DHS Official Condemns Viral Video by Kilmar Abrego Garcia While Agency Faces 'Gag Order by an Activist Judge'

A senior Department of Homeland Security official criticized a viral social media video posted by Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man at the center of a high-profile immigration case following his wrongful deportation to El Salvador earlier this year, saying the agency is constrained by a court-imposed gag order while he is free to post publicly.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X:

"So we, at Homeland Security 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"

Her comments were made in response to a video of Abrego Garcia lip-syncing to the Spanish Christian song "Himno de Victoria," which has circulated widely on social media.

McLaughlin's remarks came after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia's release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on Dec. 11, ruling that he was being held "again without lawful authority."

Xinis also barred immigration authorities from re-detaining or deporting him while she considers whether the government is complying with her orders. The judge said last week that she is "growing beyond impatient" with government lawyers and described the situation as "extremely irregular and extraordinary."

Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March and returned to the United States in June. He was later detained again in August after appearing for an ICE interview in Maryland. Xinis has noted that an immigration judge in 2019 did not issue a final order of removal, meaning he cannot be deported without further proceedings.

The Trump administration has accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of the MS-13 gang and of involvement in human smuggling, claims his attorneys dispute. He has no criminal record in the United States.

After his lawyers argued that public statements by senior officials were harming his right to a fair trial, a judge placed DHS under a gag order restricting public commentary on his case. The order initially applied broadly across the department and was later narrowed.

Abrego Garcia, who has lived in Maryland for years and has an American wife and child, has also sought asylum and said in court that he is willing to depart voluntarily to Costa Rica. Judge Xinis has accused the government of misleading the court about the availability of that option and of threatening deportation to countries that have not agreed to accept him.