DHS official blasts Abrego Garcia for ‘TikToks’ as judge gags agency

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin on Saturday targeted Kelmar Abrego Garcia for “making a TikTok” while the Department of Homeland Security remains restrained by an “activist judge.”

McLaughlin was responding to a minute-long video showing Abrego Garcia, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, filming himself lip-synching to a Spanish-language song.

“So we’re, in [DHS]”Subject to a gag order by an activist judge, Kelmar Abrego Garcia is making TikToks. American justice stops working when its arbitrators silence law enforcement and give megaphones to those who oppose our legal system,” McLaughlin wrote.

A judge blocks ICE from redetaining Abrego Garcia — but the signs could come quickly

Kelmar Abrego Garcia was released after a judge lacked a valid removal order

A court order had previously been issued by an Obama-appointed federal judge barring the Department of Homeland Security and other Trump administration officials from publicly discussing Abrigo Garcia’s human smuggling case. That arrangement was later narrowed, according to the Tennessee Star.

Politico reported that Abrego Garcia repeatedly sought to curb public criticism from Trump administration officials, arguing that the statements threatened his right to a fair trial.

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin on Saturday targeted Kelmar Abrego Garcia for “making TikToks” while the Department of Homeland Security remains constrained by an “activist judge.” (Fox News)

Abrego Garcia has been released from prison and will return to Maryland to await trial

Abrego Garcia’s case has attracted national attention since March, when he was deported to his native El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order, in what Trump officials acknowledged was an “administrative error.”

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

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

president Donald Trump and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele. A federal judge in Maryland recently ordered the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man who was deported, citing a previous ruling involving Maryland man Kelmar Abrego Garcia who was wrongly deported to his native El Salvador. The Trump administration stated the justification was gang affiliation and as part of a broader deportation strategy. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)" width="1200" height="675"/>

Demonstrators gather to protest the deportation of migrants to El Salvador outside the headquarters of the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations on April 24 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

U.S. District Judge Paula Shenis on Monday also extended a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from immediately detaining Abrego Garcia again after he failed to issue a final deportation order.

This ruling maintains a previous order ensuring his release from ICE custody.

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

Fox News Digital’s Luis Casiano, Brian Depesch and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.