A federal judge in Tennessee has dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant and Maryland man, without a trial.
The judge concluded that the Justice Department brought the charges as retaliation for Garcia's legal fight against being deported. Courts had previously ruled that he had been illegally deported to El Salvador.
The judge found that Trump's DOJ targeted Garcia after he challenged the mistaken deportation. The court noted that the human smuggling probe was reopened after the Salvadoran national filed his lawsuit against his deportation.