A federal judge in Tennessee dismissed human trafficking charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Friday, finding the case was “vindictive,” “selective” and “in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause,” according to court documents obtained by NBC Washington.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote that the government would not have brought the prosecution had Abrego Garcia not successfully sued to challenge his deportation to El Salvador.
Crenshaw acknowledged there was insufficient evidence of “actual vindictiveness,” but found the Trump administration failed to rebut the legal “presumption of vindictiveness,” which was enough to dismiss the charges.
The judge found the investigation itself was tainted.
“The Executive Branch closed its investigation on the November 2022 traffic stop,” Crenshaw wrote. “Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.”
The charges grew out of a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, where Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding while driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Police suspected human smuggling but allowed him to drive on.
Prosecutors charged Abrego Garcia the same day he returned to the United States from El Salvador in June 2025.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department,” his criminal attorney, Sean Hecker, said in a statement to News4. “We are so pleased that he is a free man. Justifiably so.”
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen called the ruling “a strong repudiation of Trump’s lawless DOJ,” saying the judge had confirmed what he described as “a blatant abuse of prosecutorial power — one that should disturb all Americans.”
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