Prosecutor claims that delayed charges against Abrego Garcia were ‘extraordinary’ but justified

By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A representative of the U.S. Attorney’s office testified in federal court on Thursday that the human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was justified while admitting that the charges coming two years after a traffic stop in question was “extraordinary.”

Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate, claims that the criminal prosecution is vindictive, pushed by officials from President Donald Trump’s administration to punish him after they were forced to bring him back to the United States. He is seeking to have the charges dismissed.

While Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, a court order from 2019 prevents him from being deported to that country. That’s because an immigration judge determined he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family. Abrego Garcia, 30, immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager but has an American wife and child. He has lived and worked in Maryland for years under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Cust...