Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismisses the charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia as retaliation for his deportation lawsuit

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed all federal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia on May 22, 2026, finding that the DOJ had engaged in vindictive and selective prosecution. Crenshaw wrote that objective evidence showed the government would not have brought the prosecution absent Abrego Garcia''s successful lawsuit challenging his deportation to El Salvador, and scrutinized the roles of then-Deputy AG Todd Blanche and Associate Deputy AG Aakash Singh in reopening an investigation and seeking an indictment. The dismissal was one of the most explicit judicial findings of prosecutorial retaliation against a civil litigant in recent immigration history.