Back in May, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, concluding that the government was engaged in vindictive prosecution after Garcia successfully challenged his wrongful deportation to El Salvador’s CECOT torture prison. But the DOJ is unwilling to accept defeat and let an innocent man return to his life. It is appealing the decision.
The Guardian reports:
In a filing to the US sixth circuit court of appeals, the justice department insisted that human smuggling allegations against Abrego are genuine—and not retaliation for challenging his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March 2025. …
[The judge in the case, Waverly David] Crenshaw said the indictment’s timing, statements made by the recently confirmed attorney general, Todd Blanche, and sustained oversight by other top US justice department officials, had “thoroughly tainted” the case. In its appeal … the justice department accused the judge of “an unwarranted intrusion” into the government’s power—and demanded the appellate court reverse it.
“The evidence in the district court proved that charges were brought against Abrego Garcia because, in the view of career prosecutors, the evidence conclusively established that he had committed a serious crime, and not for any vindictive motive,” the justice department statement said. … Attorneys for Abrego told CBS News that the justice department’s appeal was “flat wrong.” In a statement, they said: “The indictment and prosecution of Abrego Garcia was, in fact, vindictive; the evidence before the district court established just that; and the proof was clear notwithstanding the DoJ’s refusal to call the actual decision makers, including AG Blanche, to testify under oath.”
What is truly chilling about Garcia’s persecution is that there is no political upside to it. He is not a critic of the administration or engaged in political activism. He is simply an ordinary man trying to make a living. But he is part of a scapegoated outgroup against whom Trump has declared a jihad and nothing will stop the president from using the full force of the state to make his point.
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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