{
  "id": 1760519,
  "title": "Justice Department pushes to revive criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/justice-department-pushes-to-revive-criminal-case-against-kilmar-1760519",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-18T17:23:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Associated Press",
    "slug": "associated-press",
    "url": "https://apnews.com/article/kilmar-abrego-garcia-el-salvador-deportation-smuggling-c30c324bdc979b9dbb583ac77a17bb24"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Justice Department is seeking to revive criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, contending a federal appeals court that a judge made a mistake in his ruling, which labeled the case of Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to an El Salvador prison for human smuggling, as an \"abuse of prosecuting power.\" The government is appealing the May decision by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, which overturned human smuggling charges against the Salvadoran national. Judge Crenshaw's ruling was a significant blow to the Trump administration, which had repeatedly been accused of targeting defendants for political motives. The judge determined that Abrego Garcia would not have faced criminal charges had he not sued the government over his 2025 deportation. Although the judge did not explicitly conclude that the government acted with \"actual vindictiveness,\" which requires evidence such as a prosecutor admitting to filing charges in retaliation, the judge found sufficient evidence of \"presumptive vindictiveness.\" This included the timing of the indictment, as Homeland Security was aware of the 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, the basis for the human smuggling charges, for over two years before Abrego Garcia was deported. The agency only re-opened the case and began a thorough investigation after Abrego Garcia was ordered returned to the U.S. Judge Crenshaw also noted statements made by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, who served as a deputy at the time, suggesting the Justice Department was targeting Abrego Garcia due to his successful wrongful-deportation case.",
  "summary": "NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Justice Department is pushing to revive criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia , telling a federal appeals court late Monday that a judge erred in his scathing ruling that called the case against the man mistakenly…",
  "key_points": [
    "Justice Department seeks to revive criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.",
    "Appeals court ruled judge made mistake in labeling case as abuse of prosecuting power."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}