A federal judge in Nashville says he wants to know why the Trump administration investigated and brought criminal charges earlier this year against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, so he's asking the US Department of Justice to produce documents that are pertinent to that decision.
Judge Waverly Crenshaw filed the order against the DOJ earlier this month; it was released today and will be instrumental in a court hearing expected next month.
Under an order that indicates a certain judicial activism, Judge Crenshaw is requiring the DOJ to release documents on its decision to investigate Garcia in connection with a traffic stop that occurred in 2022.
Garcia has been charged with human smuggling and was mistakenly deported earlier this year, but his defense lawyers contend his prosecution by the DOJ was vindictive, not justice-related, after a successful lawsuit was brought by attorneys on his behalf.
The charges were brought against Garcia while he was in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
While Garcia's attorneys would have liked the judge to order witnesses to appear at the hearing, Judge Crenshaw didn't take push the case that far for now, restricting the order to evidentiary procedure and discovery.
