Kelmar Abrego Garcia arrives at the United States District Court of Maryland, Monday, December 22, 2025, in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
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Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
A federal judge this week threw out the trial of Kelmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported, and scheduled a hearing on whether prosecutors were vindictive in pursuing the human smuggling case against him.
Abrego Garcia became the focus of the immigration debate 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. Abrego Garcia has enough evidence to hold a hearing on the matter, which Crenshaw set for Jan. 28, Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. wrote in Tuesday’s order.
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 was stopped in 2022, there were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed the smuggling suspicions among themselves. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
A Department of Homeland Security agent previously testified that he did not begin investigating the traffic stop until after the U.S. Supreme Court said in April that the Trump administration should act to bring Abrego Garcia 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.