Kilmar Abrego Garcia's human smuggling case dismissed by Tennessee judge

Patricia Hurtado and Zoe Tillman, Bloomberg News on May 22, 2026

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A federal judge in Tennessee dismissed the human smuggling case against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant, after concluding the government had brought the case as retaliation for his legal fight against being deported.

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. said in his 32-page ruling Friday the evidence showed the government “would not have brought this prosecution” if Abrego Garcia hadn’t filed a successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador.

Crenshaw already found evidence that high-level U.S. Justice Department officials may have played a role in the charges being filed.

Abrego Garcia became a key figure in the U.S. crackdown on immigration after he filed a high-profile lawsuit in March 2025 challenging his accidental deportation to a notorious prison in El Salvador, part of a broader program of controversial mass deportations.

After Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S., the government filed human smuggling charges against him which he argued were in retaliation for filing suit. He also argued that U.S. officials were threatening to deport him again as payback for refusing to quickly plead guilty. He’s involved in a separate civil suit challenging U.S. efforts to deport him to Liberia.

A federal judge in Maryland has separately blocked the Trump administration from removing him from the country for now.

A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security, which has claimed Abrego Garcia is a gang member with a history of violence, did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Crenshaw’s ruling.