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A newly unsealed order in the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia shows top Justice Department officials pushed to prosecute him only after he was wrongfully deported and ordered to return to the U.S., calling it a “top priority”
Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to human smuggling charges in federal court in Tennessee. He is seeking to dismiss the case on the grounds that prosecutors were vindictive — a presidential approach Donald TrumpThe government punished him for the embarrassment of a mistaken deportation.
To support that argument, he asked the government to turn over documents that reveal how the decision was made to prosecute him in 2025 for events that occurred nearly three years ago. On Dec. 3, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw filed a sealed order forcing the government to provide certain documents to Abrego Garcia and his attorneys. The order, unsealed on Tuesday, sheds new light on the case.
Earlier, Crenshaw found there was “some evidence” that the prosecution of Abrego Garcia may have been retaliatory. He specifically cited the Deputy Attorney General’s statement Todd Branch in a fox news The show seemed to suggest that the Justice Department charged Abrego Garcia because he won a wrongful eviction case.
Rob McGuire, who is acting The U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee argued until late December that the comments were irrelevant because he alone made the decision to prosecute and that he had no animosity toward Abrego Garcia.