US judge dismisses human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

Key Takeaways

• A judge in Tennessee on Friday (local time) dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 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 Trump 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 (DOJ)'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.