On December 11, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of the Middle District of Tennessee issued a ruling dismissing all criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran citizen who was illegally deported to El Salvador by the administration of President Donald Trump and detained in a massive prison there.
In a 15-page ruling, Judge Crenshaw stated, “The Court does not reach this conclusion lightly. The objective evidence shows that had Abrego Garcia not filed a successful lawsuit challenging his deportation, the government would never have indicted him.”
Specifically, the U.S. Department of Justice only reopened a human trafficking investigation related to a 2022 traffic stop involving Abrego Garcia after he filed a lawsuit against the government over his deportation. Previously, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had been aware of the incident for two years and formally closed the case when deporting him to El Salvador.
The case was only reopened after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government must bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States. He was returned to the U.S. in June of the same year, but prosecutors promptly filed criminal charges for human trafficking and conspiracy to commit human trafficking.
Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty and maintains that he was prosecuted solely for suing the government. Judge Crenshaw found that the timing of the charges was central to establishing a “presumption of retaliation” by the government.
Earlier, Abrego Garcia became a symbol of President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. He was sent to a supermax prison in El Salvador in 2025, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to the risk of being targeted by gangs. The 2019 ruling by an immigration judge recognized that he faced danger from gangs targeting his family.
Although he has returned to the U.S. and been reunited with his family, Trump administration officials have stated that Abrego Garcia cannot remain in the United States and have pledged to deport him again to a third country where he has no ties.
