US judge dismisses human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrega Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador | Today’s news

A Tennessee judge on Friday (local time) dismissed a people-smuggling case against Kilmar Abrega Garcia, whose wrongful deportation became the site of a rally against US President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Garcia’s wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year became an embarrassment for Trump officials when they later ordered him to return to the country, the AP reported. Garcia argued that both the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top Trump administration officials showed the prosecution was “vindictive.”

District Judge Waverly Crenshaw granted Garcia’s bid to drop the criminal charges because the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecution was vindictive and selective. The judge added that without Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his deportation to El Salvador, the government would not have initiated this prosecution,” as he rejected claims of “new evidence” against him.

The district judge ruled in previous court filings that he found some evidence that the case against Abrego Garcia “may be vindictive,” adding that many of the Trump administration’s statements “raise concerns.” At the time, Crenshaw cited a statement from then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that indicated the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful deportation case.

The case against Abrego Garcia?

Garcia faced charges of people smuggling and conspiracy to commit people smuggling, with prosecutors alleging he was paid to illegally transport people who were already in the United States.

The charges against him stemmed from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Footage from a highway patrol officer’s body camera revealed a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car and the police officers were discussing their suspicions of smuggling among themselves. However, Abrego Garcia was finally 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 criminal case in Tennessee last year, but was soon taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 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 wife and child in the US who lived in Maryland for several years after entering the country illegally as a teenager. The 2019 order allowed him to live and work in the country under ICE supervision, but did not grant him permanent residency.

Soon after Trump returned to the White House for a second term, his administration stepped up its crackdown on illegal immigrants in the country, during which Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March. According to his attorney, the 29-year-old had permission from the Department of Homeland Security to work legally in the country and was a sheet metal apprentice trying to get a journeyman’s license.

Last April, the US Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to try to bring back a man who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s urgent appeal.

Abrego Garcia had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country due to fears he would face persecution by local gangs.

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials said Abrego Garcia cannot remain in the US. They promised to deport him to a third country, most recently to Liberia.