A federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was deported to El Salvador under the Trump administration’s immigration policies, ruling that the prosecution was politically motivated.
Abrego Garcia’s deportation became a focal point for opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies when officials sought to return him to the United States. He claimed that both the timing of the criminal charges and statements by top Trump administration officials demonstrated that the prosecution was vindictive.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, ruling from Nashville, Tennessee, granted Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss for “selective or vindictive prosecution.” The judge noted that the government had been aware of a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding involving Abrego Garcia and had closed the case when it deported him. Once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled he should be brought back, the case was reopened.
Crenshaw found there was sufficient evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness” — including the timing of the indictment, statements by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and sustained oversight by other top Justice Department officials — to taint the prosecution. However, he did not find “actual vindictiveness,” a standard requiring evidence such as an admission of retaliation.
Abrego Garcia, who has lived in Maryland for years with an American wife and child after immigrating illegally as a teenager, was charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling. His deportation violated a 2019 immigration court order granting him protection from deportation due to danger from a gang targeting his family.
The government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.
