Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvador national living in Maryland who was wrongfully deported in the spring, may now have momentum to get a smuggling case dropped in court. A court order unsealed by a federal judge on Tuesday shows the Department of Justice made prosecuting Abrego Garcia a top priority only after he challenged his wrongful deportation.
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What the court order says
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of Tennessee is overseeing Abrego Garcia’s smuggling case, which his lawyers are seeking to have dismissed. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argue that the charges constitute a vindictive prosecution.
Crenshaw said he reviewed more than 3,000 documents related to the case and found one in which a senior DOJ lawyer called the case a “top priority.” He also said the documents “suggest” the prosecutor in Tennessee “was not a solitary decision-maker” in the decision to bring human smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia.
Crenshaw’s order to unseal the documents indicated that a top DOJ official contacted several officials in Tennessee to discuss the Abrego Garcia case, including then-acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, Rob McGuire. It said McGuire then got a file on Abrego Garcia from the Department of Homeland Security that same day.
In a May 15 email, Crenshaw said McGuire wrote, “Ultimately, I would hope to have ODAG [Office of the Deputy Attorney General] eyes on it as we move towards a decision about whether this matter is going to ultimately be charged.”
He reportedly added, “I have not received specific direction from ODAG [Office of the Deputy Attorney General] other than I have heard anecdotally that the DAG and PDAG [Principal Deputy Attorney General] would like Garcia charged sooner rather than later.”
Just days after that, Abrego Garcia was indicted by a grand jury over allegations that he transported immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally. He has pleaded not guilty.
What happens now
Abrego Garcia was scheduled to go to trial in January 2026 on the smuggling case, but that trial has now been canceled. Crenshaw ordered an evidentiary hearing instead, where DOJ lawyers will have to explain the timing of the case.
Crenshaw also ordered the government to turn the documents he based his court order on over to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers for review.
“The Court recognizes the government’s assertion of privileges, but Abrego’s due process right to a non-vindictive prosecution outweighs the blanket evidentiary privileges asserted by the government,” Crenshaw said.
He added that the documents could contradict the government’s claim that the decision to prosecute Abrego Garcia “was made locally and that there were no outside influences.”
Abrego Garcia’s ICE case
A different federal judge in Maryland ordered Abrego Garcia’s release from immigration detention, where he had been held since August. The same judge also ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release him earlier this month after ICE redetained him.
In March 2025, Abrego Garcia was deported to his native country of El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison despite a 2019 order by an immigration judge granting him legal protection from being sent back. He was returned to the U.S. in June 2025 after a court order.
The Trump administration maintains its claims that Abrego Garcia has ties to MS-13 and has been involved in domestic abuse, on top of their human trafficking allegations.
