A federal judge has thrown out the trial of Kelmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported, and scheduled a hearing on whether prosecutors were retaliatory in the human smuggling case against him.
A federal judge this week threw out a trial Kelmar Abrego GarciaThe Salvadoran man who was He was deported by mistakeA hearing was scheduled to determine whether the prosecution was vindictive in pursuing the human smuggling case against him.
He became Abrego Garcia The focus of the debate on immigration After the Trump administration deported him in March to… A notorious prison in El Salvador. Facing mounting public pressure and a court order, the Trump administration returned him to the United States in June, but only after issuing an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee.
Abrego Garcia denied the allegations and said prosecutors were targeting him vindictively and selectively. Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. wrote in Tuesday’s order that Abrego Garcia Crenshaw had sufficient evidence to hold a hearing on the matter, which Crenshaw scheduled for January 28.
At that hearing, prosecutors will have to explain why Abrego Garcia was charged, and if they fail to do so, the charges may be dropped, Crenshaw wrote.
When Abrego Garcia It was withdrawn in 2022There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed suspicions of smuggling among themselves. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
A DHS agent previously testified that he did not begin investigating a traffic stop until after the investigation had concluded The US Supreme Court said In April, the Trump administration was forced to work to bring Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador, where he had been deported.
Years ago, Abrego Garcia was protected from deportation to his home country after a judge found he faced danger there from a gang that targeted his family. This order allowed Abrego Garcia, who has an American wife and child, to live and work in the United States under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Members of President Donald Trump’s administration accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of the MS-13 gang, but he strongly denied the accusations and has no criminal record.
Abrego Garcia’s defense attorney and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville did not immediately respond to requests for comment.