The Department of Justice is appealing a court decision that dismissed human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The notice of appeal, filed on June 22, comes one month after U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw tossed out the government’s case, saying it was “vindictive and selective prosecution in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.”
“The court does not reach its conclusion lightly,” Crenshaw had written in his May 22 opinion.
“The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution.”
Crenshaw, when explaining his decision, pointed to statements by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who said the government had reopened its investigation into the Salvadoran after “a judge in Maryland and many members of Congress” questioned why he was being deported….