A federal judge ruled on Friday there was a realistic likelihood that the criminal charges the US Department of Justice brought against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged gang member who was wrongly deported by US President Donald Trump’s administration to El Salvador, amounted to a vindictive prosecution.
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US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Nashville, Tennessee, cited statements administration officials made celebrating the charges brought against Abrego Garcia as evidence the indictment may have been pursued in retaliation for a lawsuit he brought in Maryland challenging his wrongful deportation.
Crenshaw pointed to “remarkable statements” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made on Fox News that prosecutors started investigating Abrego Garcia after a judge in Maryland questioned his removal and found the government “had no right to deport him.”
Blanche, during the June 6 interview, said Abrego Garcia was not returned to the United States “for any other reason than to face justice”.
Crenshaw said those statements could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego Garcia’s charges stem from the exercise of his rights to bring suit against the administration over his deportation, “rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct”.
Federal law allows for the dismissal of criminal charges if a judge determines they were brought to punish someone for exercising their due process rights. Such requests rarely succeed.
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But Crenshaw, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, said Abrego Garcia had carried his burden of showing he was likely vindictively prosecuted. He said Abrego Garcia was entitled to obtain further evidence from the government and have a hearing to decide whether the case should be dismissed.