Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are working to persuade a federal judge to throw out human smuggling charges against him.
Abrego Garcia, whose erroneous deportation has become a focal point in the immigration debate, alleges that his criminal prosecution is vindictive. He claims it was orchestrated by officials within Donald Trump's administration as retribution, following their obligation to return him to the United States.
Abrego Garcia, 30, immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager but has an American wife and child. He has lived and worked in Maryland for years under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Although he is a Salvadoran citizen, an immigration judge determined in 2019 that he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family, granting him a court order preventing him from being deported.
After he was deported to El Salvador last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration had to work to bring him back.
He was eventually returned to the U.S. only to face criminal charges of human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia after he was pulled over for speeding.
There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw previously found some evidence that the prosecution against Abrego Garcia “may be vindictive.” The judge said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.” He specifically cited a statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that seemed to suggest the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful deportation case.
Abrego Garcia's attorneys have been sparring with prosecutors for months over whether officials like Blanche would be required to testify at Thursday's hearing and what emails Justice Department officials would have to turn over to them. First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire has argued that he alone made the decision to prosecute, so the motives of other officials were irrelevant.
Crenshaw personally reviewed many of the disputed documents. In an order that was unsealed in late December, he wrote, “Some of the documents suggest not only that McGuire was not a solitary decision-maker, but he in fact reported to others in DOJ and the decision to prosecute Abrego may have been a joint decision.”
