Criminal Charges Dismissed Against Sherrard Roe Client Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Human Trafficking Case

June 11, 2026   |   Aimee Moore

Sherrard Roe is pleased to report that federal charges against its client, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, were dismissed on May 22, 2026. Firm attorney Rascoe Dean served as Tennessee defense counsel to Abrego Garcia, along with attorneys Sean Hecker, Jenna Dabbs, and David Patton of Hecker Fink LLP.

Abrego Garcia became the focus of a high-profile legal and political dispute after he was deported to El Salvador in March 2025 despite a 2019 immigration court order that prohibited his removal there due to concerns he could face persecution from gangs. The U.S. government later acknowledged that his deportation was an administrative error.

After extensive litigation, including intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal government facilitated his return to the United States in June 2025. Upon his return, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment in federal court in Tennessee charging him with unlawful transportation of undocumented migrants and conspiracy to transport undocumented migrants for financial gain. The charges largely stemmed from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.

Video from the Tennessee Highway Patrol showed a peaceful exchange with Abrego Garcia after he was pulled over for speeding with nine passengers in his vehicle. Although officers discussed their suspicions of human smuggling, Abrego Garcia was ultimately permitted to continue driving with only a warning given.

Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to the unsealed charges, and Rascoe Dean and his co-counsel from Hecker Fink argued that the prosecution was retaliation for Abrego Garcia’s successful legal challenge to his wrongful deportation.

On May 22, 2026, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed the criminal indictment, concluding that Abrego Garcia had established a presumption that the prosecution was vindictive. Judge Crenshaw found that the government failed to overcome that presumption. In his opinion, Judge Crenshaw wrote that “instead of investigating the November 2022 traffic stop to identify who was responsible for the human smuggling, … [then United States Deputy Attorney General Todd] Blanche started the investigation to implicate Abrego Garcia,” and that “he did so to justify the Executive Branch’s decision to remove him to El Salvador.”