The Justice Department got more bad news in their case against wrongly deported immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia this week, as a judge ordered them to hand over documents to Abrego’s legal team that could potentially get the whole case thrown out.
According to Lawfare’s Roger Parloff, “After a sealed ex parte (govt only) hearing in Abrego’s criminal case yesterday, Judge Crenshaw has ordered, over govt objection, that redacted copies of 6 documents relevant to Abrego’s motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution be turned over to Abrego’s team. That’s all we know for now.”
If Abrego’s motion succeeds, the criminal case against him, in which prosecutors allege he participated in a trafficking scheme on behalf of criminal gangs, could be tossed altogether.
Abrego, a family man who emigrated from El Salvador and was living in Maryland, became a national name earlier this year after he was shipped to the infamous CECOT megaprison in his native country, despite a court order preventing his deportation to that specific place.
After months of the Trump administration claiming they had no jurisdiction to repatriate him, they finally caved to public pressure and brought him back to the United States, only to immediately detain him, slap him with criminal charges, and start the process to deport him to another country not subject to the court order. Abrego denies any criminal activity or gang affiliations.
An ongoing issue is finding a country that is willing to accept Abrego. His legal team has said they would accept deportation to Costa Rica, but the Trump administration has refused this and has instead tried to get a series of African nations to take him in, all with no results.
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