Federal District Court Dismisses Criminal Case Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia
The saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been long and winding, some might say to hell and back. Alan Feuer for the New York Times has the latest in his case:
"A federal judge [today] dismissed the criminal case against the immigrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, ruling that the Trump administration had brought human smuggling charges against him as part of a vindictive effort to punish him for challenging his wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year." Here is the order.
A little background is in order. Without a hearing, the U.S. government removed from the United States Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a high-security prison in his native El Salvador. For several years, he had been raising a family in Maryland. Before his summary removal, an immigration court had found that Abrego Garcia could not be returned to El Salvador because his life or liberty would be at risk there. Abrego Garcia thus was lawfully in the United States at the time of his removal. The U.S. government initially admitted that Abrego Garcia’s quick removal was an “administrative error.” However, it later insisted that he had properly been removed from the country because he is a member of the infamous criminal MS-13 gang, a claim that Abrego Garcia repeatedly denied. Before his removal, he had never been charged with a crime in the United States, although he apparently had a few run-ins with the law.
In Noem v. Abrego Garcia, the Supreme Court ruled that the lower court order “properly require[d] the Government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody, in El Salvador . . . . ” However, the Court directed the district court to “clarify” its order “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”
After a delay of a few months, the U.S. government helped return Abrego Garcia to the United States and immediately charged him criminally with transporting undocumented immigrants. Upon release from custody, he was re-arrested and threatened by the U.S. government with removal to, among other countries, Uganda, a country a world away with which he has absolutely no ties or connections. Litigation, which the Trump administration had sought to avoid through the speedy removal of Abrego Garcia without a hearing, continues. The incredible attention paid to his removal shows the extraordinary and troubling steps that the Trump administration is willing to take in its immigration actions that test the outer limits of the law.
In short, the criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia have been dismissed.
