DOJ Appeals Ruling Tossing Human-Smuggling Case Against Wrongfully Deported Man

On August 17, 2026, the Justice Department asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a May order that dismissed human-smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia as vindictive.^[1]

Federal prosecutors had accused Abrego Garcia of two human-smuggling counts stemming from a November 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee where troopers found multiple migrants in his vehicle.^[1] The district judge ruled in May that the Justice Department pursued the case in retaliation after Abrego Garcia contested a prior, wrongful deportation to El Salvador.^[1] In its appeal filing, the Justice Department said career prosecutors acted on the evidence and the law, not out of animus, and it asked the Sixth Circuit to reinstate the indictment.^[1] Separately, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia, but a federal court in Maryland has temporarily blocked that removal.^[1]

In May 2026, a federal judge dismissed the case, saying prosecutors had retaliated against Abrego Garcia for challenging his wrongful deportation to El Salvador.^[1] Abrego Garcia's lawyers argued the government used criminal charges to punish his immigration fight, while prosecutors said the criminal case rested on independent investigative facts.^[1]

The Sixth Circuit will now consider whether the judge's finding of vindictiveness was legally sound and whether the indictment should be reinstated.^[1] DOJ said its appeal reflects ordinary prosecutorial judgment, while Abrego Garcia's lawyers say the dismissal should stand and his removal is already enjoined.^[1]

1. CBS News