(The Center Square) – A federal judge dismissed Tennessee charges against a man who, at one time, was at the center of the immigration debate.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was charged with human smuggling in connection with a Tennessee traffic stop. Garcia was driving an SUV with eight passengers. One of the police officers believed that he was smuggling them, remarking that he was “hauling these people for money,” according to a video obtained by The Center Square through an open records request.
U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw called the charges “vindictive” because Abrego Garcia challenged his deportation to El Salvador.
“The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution,” Crenshaw wrote in his order. “The Executive Branch closed its investigation on the November 2022 traffic stop. Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.”
The Trump administration mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in March 2025 due to an administrative error, according to previous reporting from The Center Square. Prior to that, Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland and had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in MS-13 in 2019, after immigrating illegally to the United States as a teenager with his parents around 2011. Officials prepared to deport Abrego Garcia then, but an immigration judge granted him “withholding of removal,” believing his life would be in danger if he were returned to El Salvador.
The Department of Justice did not immediately return a message from The Center Square about the case.
