DHS official rips Kilmar Abrego Garcia for 'making TikToks' while agency faces gag order

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin on Saturday took aim at Kilmar Abrego Garcia for "making TikToks" while DHS remains constrained by an "activist judge."

McLaughlin was reacting to a minute-long video that appears to show Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran illegal immigrant who became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, filming himself lip-syncing to a song in Spanish. 

"So we, at [DHS], are under gag order by an activist judge and Kilmar Abrego Garcia is making TikToks," McLaughlin wrote. "American justice ceases to function when its arbiters silence law enforcement and give megaphones to those who oppose our legal system."

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A court order had previously been issued by an Obama-appointed federal judge that restricts DHS and other Trump administration officials from publicly discussing Abrego Garcia’s human smuggling case. That order was later narrowed, according to The Tennessee Star.

Abrego Garcia had repeatedly sought to curb public criticism from Trump administration officials, arguing the remarks threaten his right to a fair trial, Politico reported.

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Abrego Garcia’s case has drawn national attention since March, when he was deported to his home country of El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order and in what Trump officials acknowledge was an "administrative error."

Upon his return to the U.S., Abrego Garcia was immediately taken into federal custody and detained on human smuggling charges from a 2022 traffic stop. The Trump administration has claimed he is a member of MS-13, which Abrego Garcia denies. 

A federal judge this week canceled Abrego Garcia’s trial and scheduled a hearing to review whether prosecutors pursued the human smuggling charges vindictively, according to The Associated Press.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Monday also extended a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from immediately detaining Abrego Garcia again after failing to produce a final removal order. 

The ruling keeps in place an earlier order that secured his release from ICE custody.

DHS and a defense attorney for Abrego Garcia did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano, Breanne Deppisch and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.