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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BFMG) — A federal judge in Tennessee has dismissed the indictment against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, ruling that prosecutors pursued the case in retaliation after he successfully challenged his removal from the United States to El Salvador.
In a memorandum opinion issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. said the government failed to rebut a presumption of vindictive prosecution. He wrote that the timing of the investigation, along with public statements from senior Justice Department officials and close oversight of the case by Main Justice, showed the prosecution was tainted by retaliation.
“The evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” Crenshaw wrote.
Abrego Garcia was indicted in the Middle District of Tennessee on charges of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants and transporting undocumented immigrants during a November 2022 traffic stop. The case grew out of a traffic stop by Tennessee Highway Patrol and was reopened in April 2025 after the Supreme Court and a Maryland federal judge ordered the government to facilitate his return from El Salvador.
Crenshaw said the government closed the original investigation after Abrego Garcia was removed from the country, then reopened it only after court rulings in his favor. The judge said the government’s claim that the case was based on newly discovered evidence was not persuasive because much of the information had been available earlier or came from the reopened investigation itself.
The opinion also pointed to statements by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who said the government began investigating Abrego Garcia after a Maryland judge questioned the deportation decision. Crenshaw said those comments, combined with involvement by Justice Department official Aakash Singh, tied the prosecution to Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers had argued the indictment should be thrown out because it amounted to punishment for asserting his legal rights. The judge agreed, saying the presumption of vindictiveness remained unrebutted.
“The Government has failed to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness,” Crenshaw wrote.
Crenshaw said the prosecutor assigned to the case, former Acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire, was not operating independently because he inherited a tainted investigation and was working under close supervision from Justice Department leadership.
“Abrego’s motion to dismiss the indictment must be granted,” the judge wrote.
The ruling marks a major setback for the government in a case that has drawn national attention because of Abrego Garcia’s deportation, court-ordered return and renewed prosecution.
