A federal judge has dismissed the criminal case brought by the Department of Justice against immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador last year.
Abrego Garcia was deported in March of last year to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.
At the time he was deported, Abrego García was not under investigation and hadn’t been charged with any crime. It was only after he was returned to the U.S. that the DOJ filed the case against him.
The judge granted Abrego Garcia’s motion to drop the charges against him today acknowledging they were part of a vindictive effort to punish him for challenging his wrongful deportation.
Breaking News: A judge dismissed the criminal case against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last year. https://t.co/vjiau68T0c
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 22, 2026
From the New York Times:
The ruling by the judge, Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., was a stinging rebuke of both the Justice Department and its top official, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general.
Judge Crenshaw singled out Mr. Blanche for criticism in his 32-page opinion, pointing to statements he had made that prosecutors reawakened a dormant investigation into Mr. Abrego Garcia only after a different judge in Maryland questioned the administration’s decision to deport him — along with scores of other immigrants — to a notorious Salvadoran prison in March 2025.
Mr. Abrego Garcia, who is still fighting the administration’s efforts to expel him from the country, is perhaps the best-known symbol of President Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.
And his release from criminal charges because of what Judge Crenshaw called their “vindictive taint” was another blow to Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown, which had already been battered by, among other things, the killings of two protesters in Minnesota by federal agents.
BREAKING: A judge dismisses human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported. https://t.co/0Mt2CZlpVZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 22, 2026
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