‘Exaggerated If Not Simply Inaccurate’: Federal Judge Goes After Bondi And Noem In High-Profile Deportation Case

A federal judge in Tennessee has told Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to stop talking publicly about a criminal case, or they might get punished. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw made this clear on Monday in a case involving Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a man from El Salvador who is facing federal charges.

According to Fox News, Abrego Garcia is being charged with smuggling people and conspiracy. He was sent out of the country earlier this year but was brought back to the United States to face these charges. Bondi has told the media that he smuggled people for a living and made more than 100 trips moving women, children, and people connected to the MS-13 gang around the country.

In his filing on Monday, Judge Crenshaw said he was concerned about what government officials have been saying to the press. “Government employees have made extrajudicial statements that are troubling, especially where many of them are exaggerated if not simply inaccurate. These statements made allegations regarding Abrego’s ‘character or reputation’ and expressed government officials’ views on Abrego’s ‘guilt or innocence,’” he wrote in a memorandum opinion.

The Judge Says Government Leaders Went Too Far With Their Comments

Judge Crenshaw pointed out that people started paying attention to Abrego Garcia back in March 2025 when the government sent him to El Salvador. This happened months before he was actually charged with any crimes in the Middle District of Tennessee. 

“The high-profile nature of his immigration case resulted in government officials and those supportive of Abrego regularly commenting to the media. Now that he has been indicted in this District, Abrego asks the Court to freeze extra-judicial comments to ensure his Constitutional right to an impartial jury,” Crenshaw continued.

Because the immigration situation got so much attention, government officials and people supporting Abrego Garcia kept talking to reporters. Now that he has been officially charged, the judge said all this public talk needs to end so Abrego Garcia can get a fair trial with an unbiased jury.

The judge gave specific examples of what top officials said. “For example, the DHS Secretary stated that Abrego is a ‘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 an alien smuggling ring … [that] this was his full-time job, not a contractor … [that] [h]e was a smuggler of humans and children and women … [and that] [h]e made over 100 trips.’”

He also brought up what Attorney General Bondi said on June 6, 2025, when she claimed Abrego Garcia had a major part in a smuggling operation, that smuggling was his main job, and that he smuggled people, children, and women on more than 100 trips. Judge Crenshaw said that these Trump Cabinet members broke a local court rule that says government officials should not make certain comments about cases that are still going on. 

But he did not go as far as putting a complete gag order in place. The judge wrote that Abrego Garcia wants the court to stop all these outside comments so his constitutional rights stay protected. This case keeps getting attention because it brings up bigger questions about what government leaders should and should not say about active court cases and finding the right balance between talking to the public and making sure someone gets a fair trial.