Kilmar Abrego Garcia wins major legal victory as judge dismisses criminal charges

A federal judge on Friday dismissed criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador despite a court order barring his removal from the country. The Trump administration had acknowledged in a previous hearing that Garcia's deportation was an "administrative error." US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw said the Department of Justice only reopened its human smuggling probe stemming from a 2022 traffic stop after Garcia filed a lawsuit challenging his deportation.

"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 Tennessee judge said. "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."

As per reports, Garcia was sent to the U.S. when he was 16 years old by his family to protect him from the Barrio 18 criminal gang. His mother's pupsa (a street food) business had been a target of the gang. Barrio 18 members reportedly extorted money from her, threatening to force her eldest son, Caesar, to join the gang. Eventually, the family managed to pay the money and send Caesar off to the United States. When the gang threatened to kill Abrego Garcia, the family sent him to the U.S. as well. 

In 2019, Garcia was detained along with three others found loitering near the parking lot of the Home Depot. During that time, an Immigration Judge's order expressly prohibited Abrego Garcia's removal to El  Salvador because he faced a "clear probability of future persecution" there. "In 2019, an immigration judge…granted Plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia ("Abrego Garcia") withholding of removal…Such protection bars the United States from sending a noncitizen to a country where, more likely than not, he would face persecution that risks his 'life or freedom,'" U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had said in February. 

During Abrego Garcia's hearing while he was under detention, the Trump administration said in a court filing that "although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error." However, since his release, the El Salvadorian immigrant faced the Trump administration's ire, with ICE arguing that he is a member of the MS-13 gang. Proving Abrego Garcia's link to an illegal gang was key to the Trump administration's arguments in wanting to deport him.

Abrego's criminal defense attorney Sean Hecker called his client a "victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department." In a statement, Garcia said, "Justice is a big word and an even bigger promise to fulfill; and I am grateful that today, justice has taken a step forward."