President Donald Trump’s legal war on a Salvadoran immigrant was dealt a bitter blow on Friday, as a federal judge in Tennessee canceled the current date for his trial on human smuggling charges — and will instead hold a hearing on the legality of the prosecution.
The order, by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, was first reported by NBC Washington’s Paul Wagner. It comes after Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s legal team presented evidence that he was being targeted for selective and vindictive prosecution.
“Once a defendant establishes a prima facie showing of vindictiveness, ‘a presumption arises in defendant’s favor,’” wrote Crenshaw, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. “The Court has already found that Abrego has made such a showing, entitling him to discovery and an evidentiary hearing on why the government is prosecuting him … Given this, the burden has shifted to the government.”
Crenshaw added that if the one-day evidentiary hearing on vindictive prosecution, now set for Jan. 28, goes against the government, the charges against Abrego could be dismissed outright.
It’s the latest setback for the Trump administration in the Abrego case, after a court ruling earlier this month that he must be released from federal lockup.
Abrego, who has lived for years with his family in Maryland, was mistakenly deported to the infamous CECOT megaprison in El Salvador earlier this year, despite a standing court order prohibiting his removal to that country. The Trump administration has claimed he is involved with the criminal gang MS-13, based on a hearsay allegation from a now-suspended police detective. Abrego has denied any gang involvement.
After months of the government claiming it lacked jurisdiction to repatriate Abrego to the United States, officials finally bowed to public outcry and brought him back, but immediately charged him with gang-related trafficking offenses. Officials also vowed to deport him to another country; Abrego has stated he would accept deportation to neighboring Costa Rica, but the administration has resisted this and instead, repeatedly and fruitlessly, tried to get various African countries to take him in.
To fight claims of vindictive prosecution, the Trump administration has asserted that no one in a politically appointed office was involved with the decision to press charges against Abrego, but recent filings suggest this is not true.
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