A US judge dismissed a criminal indictment against Kilmar Ábrego García on Friday, finding that the Trump administration would not have prosecuted him had he not challenged his high-profile deportation.
Ábrego, who had entered the United States without authorization in the past, became a symbol of the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations when he was sent to the notorious anti-terrorism mega-prison in El Salvador known as Cecot in March 2025.
“Thank you to God, my attorneys, We are Casa, and everyone who has continued to support the fight for justice,” said Ábrego in a statement provided by We are Casa, an immigrant rights organization in Maryland, where he lives, that assisted in his legal representation. He added: “Justice is a big word and an even bigger promise to fulfill; and I am grateful that today, justice has taken a step forward.”
Along with 260 others, chiefly Venezuelans, the administration sent Ábrego to the Salvadorian prison on 15 March last year, despite a US federal judge’s order to stop the flights and grave accusations of human rights abuses there. The Trump administration sent him to El Salvador despite a prior US court order barring him from being returned there because of a risk of persecution.
After sending Ábrego to the terrorism prison, the Trump administration admitted they had mistakenly done so, blaming an “administrative error”.
The scandal set up a huge legal showdown, as Donald Trump pressed on with his mass deportation agenda.
The White House had taken a hard line against any notion of bringing Ábrego back to the US, but that did happen last June after the US supreme court ordered the administration to facilitate it. However, he was brought back only after prosecutors in the US secured a criminal indictment charging Ábrego with human smuggling, based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. There was then talk from the Trump administration of deporting Ábrego to various countries in Africa.
He pleaded not guilty to the human smuggling charges and argued he was being prosecuted in retaliation for suing the US government to be returned from El Salvador.
During the course of the case, Ábrego’s attorneys said the Trump administration had a “vindictive motive” to reopen its 2022 investigation. The federal judge in Tennessee who ruled on Friday, Waverly David Crenshaw Jr, said in his decision that the Trump administration’s arguments failed to prove otherwise and ordered the charges be dismissed.
Crenshaw stopped short of finding the government acted with “actual vindictiveness”, a rarely met standard, but found there was enough evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness” – including the timing of the indictment, statements made by now acting attorney general Todd Blanche, and the sustained oversight of the case by other top US justice department officials – that the case against Ábrego was thoroughly tainted.
Ábrego, 30, grew up in El Salvador and fled at age 16 because a local gang extorted and terrorized his family, court records state. He travelled to Maryland, where his brother lives as a US citizen, but was not authorized to stay.
Ábrego found work in construction and met his future wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. In 2018, he moved in with her and her two children after she became pregnant with his child.
In March 2019, Ábrego went to a Home Depot seeking work as a laborer when he was detained by local police, court records state. In 2022, he was stopped by local police for speeding in Tennessee, while driving a car registered to a Texas man who had been convicted of “the illegal transportation of aliens”.
“We have said from day one that this case was nothing more than a political vendetta,” said Ama Frimpong, chief of services at We Are Casa. “The federal administration brazenly attempted to weaponize the criminal legal system to punish Kilmar for exposing their unlawful actions. Their effort to manipulate the legal system has been exposed and it has collapsed.”
“Today’s dismissal proves that our people-powered movement will not back down, and it sends a resounding message that retaliation against immigrant communities will not stand. Justice has been realized,” Frimpong added.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting
