A federal judge ruled in favor of a Salvadoran illegal alien and dismissed smuggling charges after accusing the Trump administration of unfairly retaliating against him.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia has become a cause célèbre of the left after he was scooped up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to be deported after living in Maryland for more than a decade.
‘Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.’
The Trump administration was forced by a federal judge to bring Garcia back to the U.S. in April 2025, but then immediately turned around and charged him with smuggling crimes related to an arrest incident in 2022.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw agreed with Garcia’s defense that the Trump administration’s prosecution was acting out of vindictiveness against him.
Crenshaw gave the government attorneys space to argue against the finding but concluded eventually that “the evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power.”
While the judge said there was not enough evidence to prove actual vindictiveness, he said the government did not argue well enough against the “retaliatory taint” alleged by the defense.
“The Court does not reach its conclusion lightly,” the judge wrote. “The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution. The Executive Branch closed its investigation on the November 2022 traffic stop. Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said the department would appeal the decision.
The media had come to the defense of Garcia from the beginning and was mocked for identifying him as a “Maryland man” in headlines in order to garner sympathy for his plight.
His family pleaded in the media that he was not a violent criminal and was a good husband and father, before it was revealed that he was reported for domestic violence.
RELATED: VIDEO: Democrat melts down during hearing over evidence that Kilmar Garcia is an MS-13 gang member
During a hearing about the case, a Justice Department attorney admitted in court that Garcia had been deported to El Salvador due to a clerical mistake. That attorney was later suspended and has since become a vocal critic of the administration’s legal policies.
Garcia has been accused by the Trump administration of being an MS-13 criminal gang member, but he has denied the allegations.
Judge Crenshaw was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2015.
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