{"id":73896,"date":"2026-05-22T17:54:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/doj-vows-to-appeal-after-judge-dismisses-smuggling-charges-against-kilmar-abrego-garcia-as-vindictive\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T17:54:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:54:58","slug":"doj-vows-to-appeal-after-judge-dismisses-smuggling-charges-against-kilmar-abrego-garcia-as-vindictive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/doj-vows-to-appeal-after-judge-dismisses-smuggling-charges-against-kilmar-abrego-garcia-as-vindictive\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ vows to appeal after judge dismisses smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia as ‘vindictive’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Department of Justice<\/a> (DOJ) vowed to appeal a federal judge’s decision Friday to dismiss human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who initially entered the U.S. illegally and allegedly had suspected ties to MS-13, slamming the ruling as “wrong and dangerous.”<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. on Friday threw out a two-count indictment in Tennessee<\/a> against Abrego Garcia, ruling the DOJ’s actions amounted to “vindictive and selective prosecution” in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.<\/p>\n

Abrego Garcia was facing charges after allegedly conspiring to smuggle roughly 600<\/a> illegal immigrants into the U.S. annually, between 2016 and 2025, according to a cooperating witness.<\/p>\n

FEDERAL PROSECUTOR ADMITS ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ TIMING IN ABREGO GARCIA SMUGGLING CASE CHARGES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety<\/a>,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News. “The judge\u2019s order is wrong and dangerous, and we will appeal.”<\/p>\n

The federal investigation was initially sparked by a November 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee and included suspected ties to the MS-13 gang and human trafficking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The case became a constitutional standoff after the executive branch deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in March 2025 due to an alleged “administrative error.”<\/p>\n

MARYLAND IMMIGRANT WRONGLY DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR MUST RETURN TO US, SUPREME COURT RULES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Abrego Garcia sued the government, and the judicial branch<\/a> \u2014 ultimately backed by the Supreme Court \u2014 unanimously ordered his return be “facilitate[d]” to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Crenshaw, an Obama appointee, noted that just days after the Supreme Court’s<\/a> ruling, the Department of Homeland Security suddenly reopened a closed investigation into Abrego Garcia’s 2022 traffic stop.<\/p>\n

TENNESSEE BODYCAM OF \u2018MARYLAND MAN\u2019 TRAFFIC STOP SHOWS TROOPERS’ HANDS TIED DESPITE SMUGGLING CLUES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Top Justice Department officials, under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, then pushed for an indictment, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

In his 32-page memorandum opinion, Crenshaw determined the DOJ’s rapid pivot from closing the case to prosecuting Abrego Garcia was a direct retaliation for his successful civil lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Calling it an “abuse of prosecuting power,” the judge concluded “absent Abrego\u2019s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution.”<\/p>\n

As a result of the finding, Crenshaw formally dismissed the indictment and vacated<\/a> Abrego Garcia’s conditions of release.<\/p>\n

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.<\/u><\/a>, who flew to El Salvador in April 2025 to meet with Abrego Garcia after he was deported to the country’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) megaprison, hailed Friday’s decision.<\/p>\n

“Today, a federal judge made clear what we have long known: the Department of Justice was engaged in a vindictive prosecution against Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said in a statment. “This decision is a strong repudiation of Trump\u2019s lawless DOJ and a win for the Constitutional rights of everyone in our nation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) vowed to appeal a federal judge’s decision Friday to dismiss human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who initially entered the U.S. illegally and allegedly had suspected ties to MS-13, slamming the ruling as “wrong and dangerous.” U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. on Friday threw out a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}