Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s life has been a pendulum swinging between two countries, neither offering him certainty. Once a Salvadoran migrant living legally in Maryland with a U.S. work permit, he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador—a move a federal judge had already warned against, citing the threat of gang persecution.
Now back in the United States, Abrego finds himself not as a victim of bureaucratic failure, but as a defendant in a federal courtroom. His attorneys this week filed a blistering 35-page motion in Tennessee, arguing that the government’s criminal case against him is nothing more than retaliation.
The charges accuse Abrego of transporting undocumented migrants as part of a smuggling ring, allegations he flatly denies. But his defense paints the prosecution as payback, alleging that high-ranking officials wanted to make an example out of him for daring to challenge his wrongful deportation.
“Even when officials admitted his removal was a mistake,” the motion reads, “the government’s response was not to correct it, but to double down. What began as a blunder evolved into a campaign of vengeance.”
Legal experts note that courts seldom grant requests to dismiss charges on grounds of “vindictive prosecution,” though the law does allow it when punishment appears tied to the exercise of constitutional rights.
Abrego’s case has already drawn a remarkable trail of rulings. After his deportation in March, he languished in an El Salvador prison until a civil lawsuit forced the Trump administration to bring him back. The Supreme Court upheld the order ensuring his return in April. By June, however, U.S. officials greeted him not with apology but with an indictment.
Today, Abrego sits in a Tennessee jail. A judge has said he could be released while awaiting trial, yet his own lawyers asked for a delay—fearing the administration might again whisk him away to another country before the case is heard.
Once the face of a wrongful deportation, Abrego is now fighting not just for freedom, but against what he calls a calculated attempt to silence him.
