Lawyers for Maryland man Kilmar Ábrego García, who was deported to a brutal prison due to a "clerical error," won a small victory in court on Thursday.
In a request, Ábrego asked that President Donald Trump's government, including the Justice Department, stop making "extrajudicial statements" about him as part of a "public disparagement campaign."
After the U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the government should "facilitate" the return of Ábrego from the CECOT prison in El Salvador, the government ultimately returned him to the U.S., only to immediately arrest him for what they claimed was the illegal transport of undocumented immigrants.
During the press conference on the matter, Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged that Ábrego was involved in a murder, sex trafficking, solicitation of images of a minor and more. He was not charged with any of those crimes, however.
"As Mr. Ábrego's plight captured national attention, officials occupying the highest positions of the United States government baselessly labeled him a 'gangbanger,' 'monster,' 'illegal predator,' 'illegal alien terrorist,' 'wife beater, 'barbarian' and 'human trafficker.' The Vice President, a Yale Law School graduate, went so far as to flatly lie about Mr. Ábrego, calling him a 'convicted MS-13 gang member,' notwithstanding that Mr. Ábrego in fact had never been convicted of any crime at all."
Freelance reporter Joshua Friedman posted on Bluesky that the judge agreed with the request and granted the motion.
The motion comes after another filing Wednesday, which alleged the brutal torture of Ábrego while he was in custody at CECOT.