By Holmes Lybrand, Devan Cole

(CNN) — The criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man the Trump administration deported to El Salvador last year despite a judge’s order barring his removal to the country – have been dismissed by a federal judge in Tennessee, who cited a “tainted investigation” by now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

When he was transported back to the US last year, Abrego Garcia was immediately charged with two counts of allegedly transporting unlawful migrants in 2022. His attorneys fought the charges, saying they should be dismissed because they were selective and vindictive because of the administration’s public and private missteps in how they handled the matter.

“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,” Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote in his opinion dismissing the criminal case on Friday.

The judge added that an investigation into a 2022 traffic stop that the charges stem from was closed, and “only after Abrego succeeded in vindicating his rights did the Executive Branch reopen that investigation” last year.

“The evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” Crenshaw wrote.

The dismissal is a remarkable turn in a winding legal saga involving Abrego Garica, who’s come to represent the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign. Judges rarely end criminal cases based on a finding that charges were unfairly brought because of the extremely high bar defendants must meet in showing that the government was pursuing them in bad faith.

Sean Hecker, a lawyer for Abrego Garcia, said in a statement that his client “is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department.”

“We are so pleased that he is a free man. Justifiably so. As this administration continually chips away at our democracy, we remain grateful for an independent judiciary that will dispassionately apply binding precedent to the facts,” Hecker said.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, was illegally deported by the Trump administration in March 2025, to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador.

He had entered the US illegally around 2011, but in 2019, an immigration judge barred his removal to El Salvador after finding a gang there had been “targeting him and threatening him with death because of his family’s pupusa business.”

Abrego Garcia was arrested by US officials on March 12, 2025, and was placed on a plane to El Salvador days later. A federal judge ordered the administration to work to bring him back stateside, but officials resisted complying with that directive for months.

The administration eventually partnered with El Salvador to return him in early June. He was arrested on the human smuggling charges when he returned to American soil.

In recent months, he’s been living in Maryland on pre-trial release as the legal wrangling over his bid to get the case dropped unfolded.

Meanwhile, officials at the Department of Homeland Security have been attempting to deport Abrego Garcia to various countries in Africa despite Costa Rica’s willingness to accept him and give him some form of legal status. He was unable to self-deport to that country due to the release conditions imposed on him by Crenshaw.

It remains unclear what will happen next. Under an order Crenshaw issued Friday, Abrego Garcia is no longer bound to the release conditions. The Maryland judge overseeing the litigation he’s brought challenging the government’s attempts to send him to an African country has frequently raised the prospect of him self-deporting should his criminal case be tossed.

An attorney representing Abrego Garcia in his immigration proceedings declined to comment.

Role of Todd Blanche

A key reason why the case was tossed out is the role that then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche played in what the judge says was the “tainted investigation” that led to the indictment.

After officials announced Abrego Garcia’s return to the US, Blanche said on Fox News the same day that the DOJ began looking into him after a federal judge determined he was improperly deported earlier in the year.

Attorneys for Abrego Garcia fought unsuccessfully to have Blanche testify in an evidentiary hearing for the case, relying instead on public comments Blanche had made to show the Justice Department only brought the case because of the administration’s mishap.

“Blanche’s words directly confirm that the Executive Branch reopened the criminal investigation because the Judicial Branch required the Executive Branch to facilitate Abrego’s return from El Salvador,” the judge wrote in his opinion dismissing the charges Friday.

DOJ said it will attempt to repeal the dismissal.

“Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety. The judge’s order is wrong and dangerous, and we will appeal,” a DOJ spokesperson said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Paula Reid contributed to this report.

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