Justice Department seeks to reinstate dismissed human smuggling charges against Kilmar Ábrego García
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The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a district court ruling that dismissed human smuggling charges against Kilmar Ábrego García, who was previously deported to El Salvador and later returned to the United States.
The Justice Department filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Monday, requesting that criminal charges against Kilmar Ábrego García be reinstated after a federal judge dismissed them in May. The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee and allege human smuggling.
Judge Waverly David Crenshaw Jr. of the Nashville federal district court had ruled that the prosecution was motivated by “presumptive vindictiveness,” citing the timing of the indictment and statements from senior officials, including Attorney General Todd Blanche. The judge said the case was “thoroughly tainted” by political considerations.
In its filing, the Justice Department argued that career prosecutors pursued the indictment based on “evidence, the law, and their firm belief that there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Ábrego committed the offenses. The department described the district court’s decision as an “unwarranted intrusion” into executive authority and asked the appellate court to reverse it.
"The evidence in the district court proved that charges were brought against Ábrego García because, in the view of career prosecutors, the evidence conclusively established that he had committed a serious crime, and not for any vindictive motive," the Justice Department statement said.
Ábrego’s attorneys, speaking to CBS News, called the appeal “flat wrong” and maintained that the prosecution was indeed retaliatory. An immigration advocacy group, We Are Casa, described the case as a “political vendetta” and accused the administration of using the criminal justice system to punish Ábrego for challenging his prior deportation.
Ábrego, who arrived in the United States as a teenager fleeing gang extortion in El Salvador, was deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador in March 2025. He was returned to the United States three months later after a Supreme Court order.