Trump Administration Appeals Dismissal of Ábrego García Charges

The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to reinstate criminal charges against Kilmar Ábrego García that were dismissed in May by a federal judge who found the prosecution was "vindictive in nature."

In a filing posted online Monday, the Justice Department said human smuggling allegations against Ábrego García are genuine and not retaliation for his challenge to his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March 2025. Ábrego García was sent to the notorious Cecot prison in El Salvador before being returned to the United States three months later under a Supreme Court order.

"The decision to seek an indictment against Ábrego García for human smuggling was made by career prosecutors based on the evidence, the law, and their firm belief that there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Ábrego García had committed the offenses charged," the department said.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. dismissed the indictment in May, ruling that the timing, statements from Attorney General Todd Blanche, and sustained oversight by top Justice Department officials had "thoroughly tainted" the case with "presumptive vindictiveness."

In its appeal, the department accused Crenshaw of an "unwarranted intrusion" into executive branch authority and asked the Sixth Circuit to reverse his order, calling it "a dramatic expansion of the power of courts to dismiss serious criminal charges based on subjective assessments of a prosecutor's motivations."

Attorneys for Ábrego García told CBS News the government's appeal was "flat wrong," saying the case "was initiated vindictively and on instructions from the White House after our client successfully won his Supreme Court case."

Ábrego García, 30, fled El Salvador at 16 to escape gang extortion and settled in Maryland, where his brother, a U.S. citizen, lives. He was never charged with a crime in the U.S. or El Salvador and was complying with regular ICE check-ins when he was detained and deported early in Trump's second term.