A court order unsealed Tuesday suggests that the Trump administration pushed to prosecute Kilmar Abrego Garcia on smuggling charges only after he challenged his wrongful deportation to El Salvador, with one top Justice Department official calling it a “top priority” over a month after he was deported.
The newly disclosed details also indicate that top Justice Department officials in Washington, D.C., were involved in the decision to file criminal charges against Abrego Garcia.
The Dec. 3 order was issued by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of Tennessee, who is overseeing Abrego Garcia’s smuggling case and reviewing a request from his lawyers to dismiss the charges on the grounds of vindictive prosecution. He said he reviewed over 3,000 documents.
Crenshaw’s order indicated that on April 27, Aakash Singh, who works under Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at the Justice Department, contacted several officials to talk about the Abrego Garcia case, including then-Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire. That same day, McGuire had received a file on Abrego Garcia from the Department of Homeland Security.
On April 30, Singh called the case a “top priority.”
On May 15, McGuire wrote in an email: “Ultimately, I would hope to have ODAG [Office of the Deputy Attorney General] eyes on it as we move towards a decision about whether this matter is going to ultimately be charged.”
“While ultimately, the office’s decision to charge will land on me. I think it makes sense to get the benefit of all of your brains and talent in this process and as we consider this case,” McGuire wrote, according to the unsealed order. “I have not received specific direction from ODAG other than I have heard anecdotally that the DAG and PDAG would like Garcia charged sooner rather than later.”
Abrego Garcia was indicted by a grand jury days later, on May 21.
“Some of the documents suggest not only that McGuire was not a solitary decision-maker, but he in fact reported to others in DOJ and the decision to prosecute Abrego may have been a joint decision,” Crenshaw wrote in his Dec. 3 order.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the order.
Crenshaw is weighing a request from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers for the criminal charges against him to be dismissed on the grounds that the prosecution was vindictive in nature. He has already ruled that there’s been some evidence presented suggesting that vindictiveness could’ve played a role in the prosecution, and has requested more documents from the government.
In the Dec. 3 order, Crenshaw said the Justice Department must produce certain documents that he said may be relevant, including the emails involving Singh.
Last week, Crenshaw cancelled a planned January trial in Abrego Garcia’s criminal case, and instead scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Jan. 28 to determine whether the government can rebut the preliminary finding that the prosecution was vindictive.
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador on March 15, despite a 2019 order from an immigration judge who had granted him legal protection from being sent to his native country. He was initially held at El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison. In early April, after Abrego Garcia sued to challenge his deportation, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court.
Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. in June to face federal charges related to allegations he transported immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally. He has pleaded not guilty.
His attorneys argue that the government unlawfully decided to prosecute him as punishment for challenging his deportation in court. The administration has denied that Abrego Garcia’s prosecution is vindictive, arguing there was “no intent to punish the defendant for impermissible purposes.”
Abrego Garcia was released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody earlier this month, after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis found there was no valid deportation order to justify his detention. He has remained in Maryland ever since, alongside his American citizen wife and child.
Xinis directed the Trump administration to file a sworn declaration by Tuesday outlining whether it plans to re-detain Abrego Garcia and if so, under which legal authority. The Trump administration has previously argued it can deport Abrego Garcia to a number of African countries, including Liberia.
