US federal judge tosses Kilmar Abrego Garcia case as 'vindictive' prosecution
A federal judge has dismissed human-smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, ruling that the Trump administration's prosecution was 'vindictive' after he was wrongly deported to El Salvador. The decision is seen as a significant judicial check on the administration's immigration enforcement.
US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of the Eastern District of Tennessee has dismissed human-smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, ruling that the Trump administration's prosecution was 'vindictive in nature'. The decision unwinds the central federal case built around a Maryland resident wrongly deported to El Salvador in late 2024 and later returned to the United States.
In a 47-page ruling, Judge Crenshaw found that the Justice Department brought charges immediately after a federal court ordered Garcia's return, concluding that the prosecution appeared aimed at 'masking an administrative error'. Defence attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg called the decision 'a vindication of the rule of law', while a Justice Department spokesperson said the agency would appeal. ACLU immigrants' rights director Lee Gelernt said the ruling could shape pending wrongful-deportation cases.
Garcia's wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura said her husband remains under home confinement in Tennessee and asked for full release. Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for an oversight inquiry into the administration's prosecution strategy. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration would 'use every lawful avenue available'.
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