DHS official slams Abrego Garcia for releasing TikTok video while the agency is under gag order

A senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official who declined to be named sharply criticized Kilmar Abrego Garcia this weekend after videos he posted on TikTok drew public attention while the agency is under a federal judge’s gag order tied to his high-profile immigration case. 

Abrego Garcia, originally from El Salvador, became a national story after U.S. immigration authorities mistakenly deported him to El Salvador earlier this year in violation of a 2019 court order. He was living in Maryland before the deportation occurred.

A judge later ruled that the Trump administration lacked a valid removal order. The administration was also blocked from keeping Abrego Garcia — described widely by pro-immigration legislators as a simple "Maryland Man" — in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has tried to tell the public about who they believe Garcia really is. He remains embroiled in legal disputes over human smuggling charges and his immigration status. 

Silencing law enforcement but allowing criminal suspects to say what they want

Abrego Garcia posted a TikTok video where he appears to lip-sync to a Spanish-language song, which quickly circulated on social media.

The video drew a response to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who said the department is under a gag order by an "activist judge" while Abrego Garcia is free to make TikToks.

“American justice ceases to function when its arbiters silence law enforcement and give megaphones to those who oppose our legal system," she said.