A judge in Tennessee on Friday (local time) dismissed a human smuggling case against , whose wrongful deportation became a rallying point against US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Garcia’s wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year became an embarrassment for officials when they later ordered him to return to the country, AP reported. Garcia claimed that both the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top officials of the Trump administration showed that the prosecution was “vindictive.”
District Judge Waverly Crenshaw granted Garcia’s effort to dismiss the criminal charges because the Department of Justice ()’s prosecution was vindictive and selective. The judge added that without Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution,” as he dismissed claims of “new evidence” against him.
The district judge, in previous court filings, ruled that he found some evidence that the case against Abrego Garcia “may be vindictive,” adding that many statements made by the Trump administration “raise cause for concern.” At the time, Crenshaw cited a statement by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that seemed to suggest the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful-deportation case.
Case against Abrego Garcia?
Garcia faced charges of and conspiracy to commit human smuggling, with prosecutors alleging that he was paid to transport individuals already in the illegally.
The charges against him stemmed from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Highway Patrol officer revealed a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
Abrego Garcia has not been in custody since December. He was initially released on bail in a Tennessee criminal case last year but was soon taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (). In December, a federal judge in Maryland ordered his release, ruling that the government could not detain him indefinitely.
Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with a US wife and child who has lived in Maryland for several years after entering the country illegally as a teenager. A 2019 order allowed him to live and work in the country under ICE’s supervision, but it did not grant him permanent residency status.
Soon after Trump returned to the White House for a second term, his administration ramped up a crackdown on illegal in the country, during which Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March. According to his attorney, the 29-year-old had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally work in the country and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license.
In April last year, the US Supreme Court directed the Trump administration to work to bring back a man who was mistakenly deported to prison in , rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.
Abrego Garcia had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.
Meanwhile, Trump administration officials have said Abrego Garcia cannot remain in the US. They have vowed to deport him to a third country, most recently Liberia.
(With AP inputs)
