Kilmar Abrego Garcia may have been charged because of Trump administration’s vindictiveness, judge finds

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge says he believes the immigrant defendant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the administration wrongly sent to El Salvador, may have been targeted with a criminal charge by the Justice Department this year out of vindictiveness.

“The Government had a significant stake in retaliating against Abrego’s success” suing the Trump administration after his wrongful removal to El Salvador in March, Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. of the Middle District of Tennessee wrote on Friday. “The Court finds Abrego has sufficiently presented some evidence that the Government had a stake in retaliating against him for exercising his rights in the Maryland suit and deterring him from continuing to exercise those rights.”

The finding sets up another round of court proceedings where Abrego Garcia’s lawyers will be able to dig into the Justice Department’s decision-making this year. They are attempting to have two criminal charges he faces in the Tennessee federal court dismissed and seek evidence that may show the Trump administration’s approach has been improper.

Crenshaw, an Obama appointee, hasn’t made a final ruling yet on the allegations of it being a wrongfully vindictive prosecution, and said on Friday he would allow for evidence-gathering and a hearing, which could include testimony from witnesses and potentially even administration officials.

Federal criminal defendants arguing vindictive prosecution rarely succeed.

Yet if Abrego Garcia does gather the evidence to convince the judge to toss his case, it would bring an embarrassing end to the Maryland man’s saga during the Trump administration’s aggressive and high-profile approach to immigration deportations.

The Trump administration initially resisted returning Abrego Garcia to the US, after it sent him on a plane in March to a prison for terrorists against previous immigration proceeding orders.

Abrego Garcia was only returned to the US when he was indicted for transporting undocumented immigrants this summer, based on a 2022 traffic stop where he was pulled over for speeding and police say he was driving several Spanish-speaking men across state lines.

Crenshaw noted on Friday that Abrego Garcia’s was the only federal case involving a traffic stop in Tennessee and surrounding states where the Justice Department brought charges significantly after the date of the stop.

“This supports his contention that there may be an improper motive for his prosecution,” Crenshaw wrote, noting the time between traffic stop and indictment was 903 days.

Crenshaw also noted on Friday how administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, “celebrated the criminal charges against him” in public statements and social media posts.

The most problematic statement for the Justice Department, however, came from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Crenshaw wrote.

The judge noted how Blanche said in a TV appearance the day of Abrego Garcia’s arrest that the Justice Department started investigating him after another court looked into his deportation. He called those comments from Blanche “remarkable.”

“He further stated that Abrego was not returned ‘for any other reason than to face justice,’” Crenshaw wrote.

“This could be direct evidence of vindictiveness,” he added.

A Justice Department official declined to comment to CNN.

Prior Justice Department arguments that Abrego Garcia was a danger to the public and should remain in criminal detention had also fallen flat in court, yet he continues to be in immigration detention in the US.

Abrego Garcia’s defense lawyers and two judges have also cast significant doubt on some of the evidence the Justice Department has from the traffic stop, according to the prior court proceedings.

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