DOJ asks court to reinstate criminal charges against Abrego Garcia
In May, a federal judge dismissed a criminal indictment against Abrego Garcia, who had been accused of smuggling immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
Updated on: August 17, 2026 / 10:54 PM EDT / CBS News
The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday to reinstate the criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported by the Trump administration last year, by reversing a lower court order that found them to be vindictive in nature.
In a filing Monday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, the Justice Department denied that the prosecution was vindictive, arguing it had "multiple legitimate bases to prosecute" Abrego Garcia.
"The decision to seek an indictment against Abrego Garcia for human smuggling was made by career prosecutors based on the evidence, the law, and their firm belief that there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Abrego Garcia had committed the offenses charged," the Justice Department said in a news release.
The Justice Department argued that the court order from May "marks a dramatic expansion of the power of courts to dismiss serious criminal charges based on subjective assessments of a prosecutor's motivations."