By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge dismissed an indictment against Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego on Friday, finding that the Trump administration abused its power by prosecuting him in retaliation for his lawsuit that challenged his deportation.
In a rare finding, Nashville, Tennessee-based U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote that the Justice Department reopened a probe into Abrego stemming from a 2022 traffic stop and secured an indictment because it needed “cover” to justify allowing Abrego back into the U.S.
“The evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” wrote Crenshaw, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama. “Absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution.”
ABREGO BROUGHT BACK AFTER INDICTMENT
Abrego, who entered the United States illegally, became a symbol of President Donald Trump’s drive for mass deportations when he was sent to a megaprison in El Salvador in March, despite a prior court order that barred his return there because of a risk of persecution.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the government facilitate Abrego’s return, prosecutors secured a criminal indictment charging him with human smuggling in a case stemming from the 2022 incident. The Trump administration then brought Abrego back to the U.S. in June 2025.
Abrego pleaded not guilty and argued he was being prosecuted in retaliation for suing the government to be returned.
Abrego’s lawyers said in a statement on Friday: “As this Administration continually chips away at our democracy, we remain grateful for an independent judiciary that will dispassionately apply binding precedent to the facts.”
The Justice Department will appeal against the ruling, a spokesperson said.
“Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety. The judge’s order is wrong and dangerous,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
JUDGE CITES BLANCHE COMMENTS ON ABREGO’S DEPORTATION
The Trump administration resumed efforts to deport Abrego to a country other than El Salvador after his return to face the charges. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is overseeing his challenge to the deportation, ordered him released from immigration detention in December.
Crenshaw found last year that there was a realistic likelihood that Abrego had been prosecuted vindictively, pointing to then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s statements in a Fox News interview that the government started investigating Abrego after Xinis questioned his deportation.
On Friday, Crenshaw wrote that the government had not rebutted his finding of likely vindictiveness, noting that Blanche did not testify in a February 26, 2026, hearing over whether he should dismiss the case.
Blanche is now acting attorney general.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington, Ryan P. Jones in Toronto, and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Daniel Wallis and Edmund Klamann)
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