Kilmar Abrego García's wrongful deportation and prosecution

For weeks the administration resisted the judge's orders to explain what it was doing to return him and invoked the "state secrets privilege."^[14][15] On June 6 he was flown back to face charges of smuggling migrants inside the US, to which he pleaded not guilty.^[4][16] His lawyers described "torture and mistreatment" in El Salvador's mega-prison.^[17] Released in August, he was soon detained by immigration officials, who said they would deport him to Uganda after he declined an offer to be sent to Costa Rica in exchange for a guilty plea, and later named Eswatini and Liberia.^{[2][18][7][19]}

His lawyers argued that the prosecution was vindictive, and in October a judge in Tennessee agreed to hold a hearing on the claim.^[20][21] A newly unsealed order showed that senior Justice Department officials pushed to prosecute him only after his mistaken deportation.^[22] In December the Maryland judge ordered him freed from immigration detention,^[23] and in February 2026 she ruled that he could not be re-detained.^[24] On May 22 the judge in Tennessee dismissed the smuggling charges, saying Blanche had spurred a "taint" of vindictiveness.^[5] The administration is pursuing the dismissed charges on appeal,^[6] and an October hearing on whether he could be deported was canceled.^[25]