Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia asked a judge to block Trump administration officials from making damaging statements about their client, saying they could hinder his right to a fair trial.

The request from the attorneys seeks to block extrajudicial statements they say violate court rules, pointing to specific comments from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“These comments—made by a sitting cabinet secretary (and one of the Nation’s highest ranking law enforcement officials) in this District, mere miles from the courthouse where Mr. Abrego’s case is pending—are precisely of the type that are most likely to prejudice Mr. Abrego’s right to a fair trial,” the attorneys wrote.

“Secretary Noem assailed Mr. Abrego’s character and reputation, including with verbal insults and allegations that are irrelevant to the offenses charged in the indictment and almost certainly inadmissible at trial.”

Local rules bar officials involved in a case from making statements that “have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing” future jurors or that “will interfere with a fair trial.”

In prior comments, Noem accused Abrego Garcia of committing crimes far afield of those included in his indictment for alleged human trafficking.

The Trump administration has said a 2022 traffic stop that saw Abrego Garcia transporting several other men amounts to human trafficking and has also released court records showing his wife at one point sought a protective order against him, though it was dismissed the next month when she failed to appear in court.

The basis for the other claims is unclear.

“I am grateful that this man is being brought to justice,” Noem said at a press conference last week.

“He has a lifetime history of trafficking individuals and of taking advantage of minors, soliciting pornography from them, nude photos of them, abusing his wife, abusing other illegals, aliens that were in this country, women that were under his care while he was trafficking them. He’s a horrible human being and a monster, and he should never be released free.”

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys noted the comment was made in Tennessee and would be highly visible to those who will be tapped for the jury pool in the case.

“Especially given that Secretary Noem went out of her way to come to this District and make these remarks to the local press, these statements are not just highly likely to taint the jury pool; they appear calculated to maximize the prejudice to Mr. Abrego,” they wrote.