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A federal judge on Friday granted Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss his indictment in Tennessee after Abrego argued that he was only charged by the Trump administration because he successfully challenged his illegal removal to El Salvador.

The Trump administration had resisted remedying that illegal removal for months before it finally brought him back in June 2025 to the United States, where it had criminal charges waiting for him.

“The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote in his rare grant of such a motion, which the judge said he didn’t do lightly.

Vindictive prosecution motions are rarely granted but have been brought by several defendants targeted by the administration in President Donald Trump’s revenge-themed second term.....

“The Executive Branch closed its investigation on the November 2022 traffic stop,” Crenshaw wrote Friday, adding, “Only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation.”

In his ruling, the judge referred to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s investigation as “tainted.” Crenshaw wrote that instead of investigating the November 2022 traffic stop to identify who was responsible for the human smuggling, “Blanche started the investigation to implicate Abrego. He did so to justify the Executive Branch’s decision to remove him to El Salvador.”

Abrego’s illegal removal and the prolonged fight over his return drew widespread attention last year.