Judge dismisses indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia

A federal judge dismissed human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Friday.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia's charges dismissed

Judge Waverly D Crenshaw, Jr., of the Middle District of Tennessee signed the dismissal order on Friday.

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Abrego Garcia, 30, has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years. He entered the U.S. illegally as a teenager.

In 2019, an immigration judge ruled he could not be deported back to El Salvador, saying he and his family faced danger in his home country. Despite that ruling, he was mistakenly deported there last year in what a government attorney later called an administrative error.

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Upon his return, federal officials charged Abrego Garcia with human smuggling tied to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. He pleaded not guilty.

In February, Abrego Garcia's attorneys requested the charges be dismissed, arguing that the case was vindictive, and sought to punish Abrego Garcia after the administration was forced to return him to the U.S.