DOJ Appeals to Reinstate Smuggling Charges Against Garcia

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a federal appeals court to reinstate human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, arguing that a lower court erred in dismissing the case as an act of prosecutorial vindictiveness. The government filed its opening brief on August 17 with the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to reverse a May ruling by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr.

Judge Crenshaw dismissed the indictment in May, finding evidence of "presumptive vindictiveness" in the prosecution of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national residing in Maryland. The judge ruled that the government would not have brought the charges had Abrego Garcia not successfully sued the administration over his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March 2025. In his ruling, Crenshaw stated that the investigation was reopened and the indictment pursued only after Abrego Garcia vindicated his rights through litigation.

The case stems from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Federal authorities were aware of the incident for over two years before the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in March 2025, despite a 2019 immigration judge's order prohibiting his...