It is now crystal-clear that Noem / Miller / Trumpie are intentionally thwarting Abrego Garcia's effective access to his of-right felony defense counsel, by housing him in a 180 miles away, rural Virginia private prison (allegedly only for civil defendants, and thus subject to rules greatly limiting counsel's access!) -- one run by the notorious CoreCivic operation (private equity controlled; and in most facilities -- largely inhumanely so).
In a ten page status report, his lawyers detail intentional violations of the US Supreme Court's holdings -- on the right to effective assistance of counsel, in felony matters. In addition, Kristi Noem herself continues to make "libelous per se" statements over the broadcast networks, and on X -- which are plainly false, and she knows it. This sort of extra-judicial "trying the case in the press" tactic is specifically prohibited by federal rules. Judge Crenshaw needs to act immediately here. Do read all ten pages:
. . .Because the government has not been able to address these issues adequately, defense counsel seek the Court’s assistance in ensuring that Mr. Abrego has access to counsel to allow him to review discovery and prepare for trial. Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that the Court order the government to: (i) permit defense counsel to bring laptops to in-person meetings at Farmville; (ii) allow the defense to schedule, at a minimum, four-hour long in-person visits with Mr. Abrego to maximize visitation time given the significant travel involved to reach Farmville, and two-hour long virtual visits with Mr. Abrego; and (iii) provide a private room, not half of a non-contact visitation booth, suitable for having privileged conversations, reviewing discovery, and preparing for trial.
Where, as here, “ICE jeopardizes a district court’s ability to try a defendant by placing the defendant in immigration detention or removing him, ‘the district court may craft an appropriate remedy.’” United States v. Calderon-Lopez, No. CR-19-03027, 2020 WL 2616034, at *3 (D. Ariz. May 22, 2020) (quoting United States v. Santos-Flores, 794 F.3d 1088, 1091 (9th Cir. 2015)). None of Mr. Abrego’s requested accommodations would impose a significant burden on [CoreCivic's Farmville] operations as a civil detention facility. And without an improvement in Mr. Abrego’s ability to access counsel, the defense is concerned that it may not be feasible to complete review of discovery with Mr. Abrego and adequately prepare for the trial given the current trial date of January 27, 2026. . . .
[As a separate, ongoing issue of Noem's FALSE and recent public] inflammatory and prejudicial statements include a press release from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem complaining about how CBS edited her interview and thereby “deprived the American people from hearing the truth about MS-13 gang member [Ed. Note: that characterization has been specifically disavowed by trial counsel for Noem, in Nashville -- it cannot be proven by any competent evidence!] Kilmar Abrego Garcia”; a post on the official DHS X account stating that Mr. Abrego is a “gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator” and that “America is a safer nation without him in it”; and another post on the DHS X account sharing a screenshot of correspondence from Mr. Abrego’s immigration proceedings with the caption “Homie is afraid of the entire western hemisphere.”
The government surely has the ability to ask that DHS remove these improper public statements. Indeed, recently in an opposition to a motion to restrain DHS from making extrajudicial statements signed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey stated that it had “communicated with DHS to request that DHS remove the postings to which [the] [d]efendant objects.” United States v. McIver, No. 25-cr-388 (D.N.J. Sept. 15, 2025), Dkt. 27 at 78. There is no reason the government cannot do the same here. . . .
Almost to a person, the Tangerine Dotard's people regularly exhibit the banality of. . . evil, incarnate. Damn all of them. Onward, just the same -- back to Nashville, for a pro bono hearing, likely in October -- so it would seem, after another two weeks in the mountains of Colorado, starting on the 29th. Damn.
नमस्ते
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