Federal prosecutors have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling that dismissed human smuggling charges against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
The opening brief, filed on Monday, challenges a May 22, 2026, order by U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. Judge Crenshaw dismissed a two-count grand jury indictment against Abrego Garcia after finding that the prosecution was presumptively vindictive.
The case stems from a November 30, 2022, traffic stop in Putnam County, Tennessee, where state troopers pulled over a vehicle driven by Abrego Garcia, a national of El Salvador. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) initially investigated the incident but closed the case on April 1, 2025, after Abrego Garcia was transferred to El Salvador.
Following his deportation, Abrego Garcia challenged his removal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, which ordered federal authorities to facilitate his return to the United States. Shortly after the Fourth Circuit denied a stay of that order on April 17, 2025, HSI reopened its inquiry, and then-Acting U.S. Attorney Robert McGuire launched an investigation that led to a federal grand jury indictment in Nashville on May 21, 2025, charging Abrego Garcia with conspiracy to transport undocumented aliens and unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens for financial gain.
Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States on June 6, 2025, and subsequently moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing the government charged him in retaliation for successfully challenging his deportation.
In dismissing the indictment, Judge Crenshaw found that although there was no evidence of actual vindictiveness, the circumstances warranted a presumption of vindictive prosecution. The judge pointed to the timing of the reopened investigation, regular communication between local prosecutors and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, and public comments made by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche during a televised interview.
In that interview, Blanche stated: “In this case, we had a judge in Maryland tell us oh no, there’s not any evidence that he’s a member of MS-13, you have no right to deport him. So what should we do as a Department of Justice when a judge is accusing us of doing something wrong? We have an obligation to everyone, including you, to investigate it. And that’s exactly what we did.”
In its appellate brief, the government argued that the district court misapplied the legal standards governing prosecutorial vindictiveness, asserting that such a presumption cannot apply to an initial charging decision.
Prosecutors stated that McGuire acted as the independent decision-maker and had no personal stake in the Maryland civil deportation proceedings. During an evidentiary hearing, McGuire testified regarding his decision: “About the charging decision, that was my decision. I never talked to Mr. Blanche, Mr. Bove, anybody at Homeland Security that wasn’t the case agent and the SAC. … And I really kind of didn’t want to, because I wanted to make it—I wanted to feel good about it on my own.”
The government also argued that Abrego Garcia’s court-ordered return created a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason to revive the case to address public safety concerns, backed by newly gathered evidence, including additional witness statements, phone records, and license plate reader data.
The Department of Justice has requested oral argument before the Sixth Circuit as it seeks to reinstate the indictment.
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