U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw omitted key evidence from his Friday ruling dismissing the federal human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, including reporting by The Tennessee Star that was seemingly referenced during testimony, revealing the “Biden-era FBI” directed Tennessee authorities to release Abrego Garcia during a 2022 traffic stop despite suspecting human trafficking. Instead, the Obama-appointed judge sided with the foreign national, ruling the Trump administration failed to overcome a presumption of vindictive prosecution.
Crenshaw set the stage for his decision last year to dismiss the human smuggling charges against Garcia in his October 2025 ruling, in which he found sufficient evidence to establish a “reasonable likelihood” of a prima facie case of vindictive prosecution and forced DOJ prosecutors into a defensive position.
Crenshaw stated in his ruling that the Trump administration did not adequately explain the federal government’s failure to interview a key witness against Abrego Garcia prior to the April 10, 2025 Supreme Court decision requiring the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return from incarceration in El Salvador–despite knowledge of his existence and whereabouts prior to that court decision.
By not explaining this lack of investigative activity prior to April 2025 to his satisfaction, or explaining why the HCI-Baltimore investigation into Abrego Garcia that originated in December 2022 was closed on April 1, 2025, then reopened on April 17, 2025, Crenshaw ruled, the Trump administration failed to overcome the rebuttable presumption of vindictive prosecution against Abrego Garcia.
However, the timeline Crenshaw presented in Friday’s ruling ignored a critical piece of evidence, first reported by The Tennessee Star on April 16, 2025.
The judge failed to note that a spokesman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) told The Star it was the “Biden-era FBI” that ordered the THP to release Abrego Garcia at the conclusion of the November 30, 2022, traffic stop in Putnam County, Tennessee, despite the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealing THP troopers already suspected Abrego Garcia was engaged in a human trafficking operation that day.
Equally important, Crenshaw failed to even mention that the slow pace of the investigation into Abrego Garcia’s November 30, 2022 traffic stop took place–until January 20, 2025–under the same Biden administration that ordered the THP to release Abrego Garcia that night in 2022.
In his ruling, Crenshaw wrote:
The objective evidence here comes close to establishing that but for Abrego’s lawsuit, the Government would not have indicted him. The reopening of the investigation, Blanche’s unrebutted statements, and Singh’s sustained oversight together support that inference. Blanche’s statements tie Main Justice to the tainted investigation and confirm what motivated it. Singh’s involvement ties Main Justice to the indictment. Yet it is not direct evidence of vindictiveness sufficient to establish actual vindictiveness as required by Andrews. The presumption of vindictiveness nevertheless arose from the same evidence, remains in place, and has not been rebutted by the Government.
In multiple portions of the timeline he created for his ruling, the judge selectively curated evidence and ignored other factual information, in an apparent effort to support his conclusions.
Crenshaw’s ruling began the timeline, labeled “FACTUAL FINDINGS AND TIMELINE OF EVENTS,” which is interspersed below with relevant facts which were not included in the ruling.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Tuesday, November 30, 2022
“Tennessee Highway Patrol (‘THP’) performs a traffic stop for speeding on a vehicle driven by Abrego. THP referred information about the traffic stop to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations – Baltimore (‘HSI-Baltimore’). THP confirmed that the vehicle was registered to Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes (‘Hernandez-Reyes’) in Texas, who was previously convicted of aiding and abetting the illegal transportation of aliens in 2019.”
Missing Information:
A senior THP trooper, arriving at the scene of the ongoing traffic stop in Putnam County, Tennessee, states, “You know what you’ve got here, right? He’s hauling these people [nine illegal aliens who did not speak English, had no luggage, and claimed Abrego Garcia’s residence as their home address] for money.”
When he was stopped, Abrego Garcia was driving with an expired, limited-purpose Maryland driver’s license issued to him as an illegal alien that, when valid, authorized him to drive only within Maryland.
One hour and 20 minutes after the stop was initiated, an FBI official ordered the responding THP officers to release Abrego Garcia without charging him with a crime.
After conferring with their superiors at the THP, the responding THP officers complied with the FBI’s order. They gave Abrego Garcia only a citation.
In 2022, Joe Biden was President of the United States, Merrick Garland was Attorney General, Alejandro Mayorkas was Secretary of Homeland Security, and Christopher Wray was FBI Director.
Timeline Gap:
Crenshaw left a gap in his timeline between November 30 and December 22, but more developments in the case occurred during this period, including the December 1, 2022, query by THP of Abrego Garcia within the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which is operated by the FBI.
This query revealed Abrego Garcia was identified by DHS sources “as a member of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).” As reported by DHS:
On December 1, 2022, [note: later corrected to the evening of November 30, 2022] subject [Kilmar Abrego Garcia] was observed speeding and unable to maintain its lane and was subsequently pulled it over by Trooper [REDACTED] of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Upon approach to the vehicle, encountering officer noted there were eight other individuals in the vehicle with the subject, who was identified as the driver. Subject stated he was driving “three days ago” (11/27 /2022) from Houston, TX to Temple Hills, MD (via St Louis, MO) to bring in people to perform construction work.
There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident. All the passengers gave the same home address as the subject’s home address. During the interview, subject pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions.
When asked what relationship he had with the registered owner of the vehicle, subject replied that the owner of the vehicle is his boss, and that his work is in construction. Encountering officer decided not to cite the subject for driving infractions but gave him a warning citation for driving with an expired driver’s license. Subject’s driver’s license is a MD “Limited Term Temporary”. Encountering officer gathered names of other occupants in vehicle, but could not read their handwriting, but did not pursue further due to no citation being issued. As a result, he did not pass the names, dates of birth and IDs of those individuals. No incident report number was created but the Computer Aided Dispatch number is 622057620.
By this time, Abrego Garcia was on a DHS Watchlist.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Thursday, December 22, 2022
“HSI-Baltimore opens an investigation on Abrego, which is approved by Supervisory Special Agent Heather Woodson.”
Missing Information:
HSI-Baltimore agent Francis McGravey Jr. downloaded information and images from the THP final report on the November 30, 2022 traffic stop of Abrego Garcia. One of these downloaded images was a still image from the Bodycam video from that night, which showed Abrego Garcia in the driver’s seat and an unknown male in the passenger’s seat.
This downloaded image was time stamped January 9, 2023, and that time stamp would later appear in the headline image of an article The Star published on April 18, 2025. That cropped image, lacking the time stamp, would also appear that same day, April 18, 2025, in a press release issued by DHS.
Timeline Gap:
From this point, Crenshaw’s timeline jumps to early 2025. During the period omitted by the judge, Abrego Garcia’s court filings reveal that HSI – Baltimore continued to investigate the alleged criminal activities of Abrego Garcia observed by the THP in its November 30, 2022 traffic stop, even after the FBI ordered his release.
According to an attachment included with an April 6 filing by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, the HSI agent assigned to the Abrego Garcia investigation learned on March 6, 2023, that the vehicle driven by Abrego Garcia the previous November was spotted at various locations in the United States by the use of license plate reader technology.
The vehicle was owned by Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, an illegal alien and convicted human smuggler who Abrego Garcia identified as his boss. Last year, Hernandez-Reyes agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against Abrego Garcia, and was granted early release to a halfway house.
Hernandez-Reyes pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States in May 2024, and is currently serving a 30-month sentence.
Prior to the conviction, Abrego Garcia’s filing revealed that HSI was monitoring his address:
At the request of HSI Baltimore, HSI SAC Houston conducts surveillance at the residence of CC-1 and CC-4. The ROI drafted by [HSI Special Agent] McGarvey states that HSI Baltimore investigators previously identified CC-1 as a coconspirator in a human smuggling/trafficking organization and that they believe CC-4’s business was used to launder proceeds from a smuggling operation.”
Also not referenced by Crenshaw in his timeline gap was the change in presidential administrations that occurred on January 20, 2025, when President Donald Trump began his second term in the White House, ushering in vast changes in the federal government’s immigration policy.
Following Trump’s return to the White House, Kristi Noem was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security on January 25, while Pam Bondi was confirmed to serve as the U.S. Attorney General on February 4.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Wednesday, February 5, 2025
“Then-Attorney General Pamela Bondi issues a memorandum to all Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) employees, including attorneys. It states that any DOJ attorney who, ‘because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief or appear in court, refuses to advance good-faith arguments on behalf of the Administration, or otherwise delays or impedes the Department’s mission will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law.’
“The Deputy Attorney General at the time is Todd Blanche. Aakash Singh is an Associate Deputy Attorney General in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (“ODAG”) who reports to Blanche.”
Missing Information:
After omitting the change in administrations, Crenshaw also omitted policy changes created under Trump, including Executive Order 14157, which immediately classified MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) as of January 20, 2025.
This designation constituted a “change in status” for Abrego Garcia, who entered the country illegally from El Salvador in 2012, was arrested in 2019, and accused of affiliation with MS-13. Abrego Garcia was notably denied bail during an asylum hearing because an immigration judge gave credence to claims of MS-13 affiliation. During that asylum hearing, Abrego Garcia conceded he was removable, was denied asylum, but granted withholding of removal by U.S. Immigration Judge David Jones, who signed the 2019 memorandum of decision and order in the removal proceedings for Abrego Garcia.
Though Jones wrote “Guatemala” in his order, courts have subsequently treated this as a clerical error for “El Salvador,” Abrego Garcia’s native country.
It was this granting of a withholding of removal that allowed Abrego Garcia to remain in the United States and obtain a legal work permit.
From October 2019 onward, Abrego Garcia was required to check in with ICE annually as part of its “ENFORCE Alien Removal Module (part of ICE’s Enforcement Integrated Database or EID), a core DHS/ICE case management system used by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers.”
“According to October 26, 2022 EARM case comments [Abrego Garcia] wants to move to Houston, Texas to be closer to family [parents],” DHS stated in a press release.
Crenshaw also omitted that FBI Director Kash Patel was confirmed by the Senate on February 20.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: April 4, 2025 – April 16, 2025
Crenshaw wrote in timeline entries on April 4, April 7, April 10, April 11, and April 15, to reflect the decision by Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States.
During this period, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit also denied a motion to stay her order, and the Supreme Court partially affirmed Xinis’ order. She reissued her order, replacing the word “facilitate” with “effectuate,” while still demanding Abrego Garcia be returned to the country.
In response, the Trump administration argued Abrego Garcia was a citizen of El Salvador being held in that nation’s prison, and as Crenshaw noted on April 15, “The Government appeals the District of Maryland’s April 10, 2025 order that ‘Defendants take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States as soon as possible.’”
Missing Information:
This is the next portion of Crenshaw’s timeline to miss key information.
Though later acknowledging an article from The Star sparked the human smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia, the judge failed to note in his timeline that The Star published new information about Abrego Garcia on April 16.
This April 16, 2025 article from The Star, “Biden’s FBI Ordered TN Highway Patrol to Release ‘Maryland Man’ Recently Deported to El Salvador After He Was Detained in 2022 Traffic Stop on Suspicion of Trafficking,” was the first time it was reported that the “Biden-era FBI” interfered with the law enforcement activities by THP during the November 2022 traffic stop.
Significantly, the following day the THP–a Tennessee state agency, not an agency or department of the federal government–specifically confirmed this report of the Biden-era FBI quashing the detainment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in that November 30, 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee,
Involvement from the FBI had never been publicly revealed previously, nor was it known to DHS officials. That evening, senior officials at the DHS read the article and learned, for the first time, of the FBI’s involvement in the outcome of the November 2022 traffic stop.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Thursday, April 17, 2025
“The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denies the motion for a stay of the District of Maryland’s April 10, 2025 order.
HSI-Baltimore reopens its investigation into Abrego. Agent VanWie approves the reopening in a document titled “MS-13 Human Trafficking/Smuggling PG County.”
Missing Information:
It was not until April 16, 2025, that The Star published its article that revealed the 2022 traffic stop involving THP and Abrego Garcia. Senior officials at DHS did not know of this incident until reporting from The Star, and have since argued that the facts uncovered in that reporting supported the reopening of the HSI-Baltimore investigation into Abrego Garcia that was closed 16 days earlier on April 1, 2025.
Crenshaw also did not note that a THP spokesman confirmed to The Star on April 17 that Abrego Garcia was released at the instruction of the “Biden-era FBI,” which was reported in the article, “Tennessee Highway Patrol Confirms ‘Biden-Era FBI’ Told Officers to Release Kilmar Abrego Garcia During 2022 Traffic Stop Despite Speeding and License Violations” (emphasis added):
The Tennessee Highway Patrol contacted The Tennessee Star on Thursday night to confirm its earlier reporting that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador who was deported last month by the Trump administration, was stopped by THP in 2022 but ordered to be released by the FBI.
A THP spokesman told The Star, “The Tennessee Highway Patrol can confirm a 2022 traffic stop of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was stopped for speeding on I-40.”
The spokesman then stated to The Star, “Per standard protocol, the THP contacted federal law enforcement authorities with the Biden-era FBI—the agency of jurisdiction—who made the decision not to detain him.”
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Friday, April 18, 2025
“DHS issues a press release on Abrego’s November 2022 traffic stop with a picture of him in the car that day with another passenger.”
Missing Information:
The federal government additionally confirmed that troopers in Tennessee suspected Abrego Garcia of human trafficking, prompting The Star to publish the article, “DHS Document Confirmed Kilmar Abrego Garcia Suspected of Human Trafficking During 2022 Traffic Stop in Tennessee Prior to Release by FBI.”
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Monday, April 21, 2025
“The Tennessee Star publishes an article on Abrego’s November 2022 traffic stop with a picture of him in the car that day with another passenger.”
In a footnote, Crenshaw identifies the article as “2022 Traffic Stop of Kilmar Abrego Garcia Was Day Three of Trip That Originated in Houston, Took Detour to St. Louis, Crossed Trafficking Hubs and Areas with MS-13,” written by Tom Pappert.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: On or about Monday, April 21, 2025
“[HSI- Nashville] Agent [Rana] Saoud learns about Abrego’s November 2022 traffic stop for the first time from the April 21, 2025, Tennessee Star article. She contacts her staff and THP.”
Missing Information:
Crenshaw appears to have mischaracterized Agent Saoud’s testimony from the February 2026 evidentiary hearing held before him during this section, as Saoud only told the Court she LEARNED of Abrego Garcia’s November 2022 traffic stop for the first time on Monday April 21, 2025.
Now retired from federal law enforcement, Saoud did not tell the court that she specifically read an article published on April 21, 2025 by The Star, as Crenshaw cites in his ruling. Indeed, from her testimony, the information she learned from The Star article suggest her citation was actually of an earlier article, one published on either April 16, 2025, April 17, 2025, or April 18, 2025.
Posts to social media containing these articles by Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, have notably received more than 500,000 views.
BREAKING: Biden's FBI ordered TN Highway Patrol to release "Maryland Man" recently deported to El Salvador after a 2022 traffic stop on suspicion of human trafficking. https://t.co/vSAZgqyC92
— Michael Patrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) April 16, 2025
Indeed, in his Friday order Crenshaw stated of Saoud’s testimony:
The Court has considered the testimony of Agent Saoud, which does little to advance the Government’s burden to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness. In fact, her testimony creates more questions than answers. A few examples show as much. Agent Saoud says the November 2022 traffic stop did not come to her in the normal course, but she never explains why. While she acknowledges the national attention on Abrego and the Executive Branch on April 21, 2025, when she learned of the November 2022 traffic stop, she chooses to ignore that the reason for that national attention was at least, in part, that the Executive Branch had not complied with Judge Xinis’ April 10, 2025 order to facilitate Abrego’s return as soon as possible. Agent Saoud claims ignorance of HSI-Baltimore’s ongoing investigation and then erroneously limits it to MS-13, further damaging her credibility. Finally, she offers no explanation for opening a separate case on Abrego on May 2, 2025, when HSI-Baltimore’s case and investigation were significantly more developed.
The court will not make the full transcript including Saoud’s testimony available to the public until June, but public reporting indicated Saoud told the court the report she received from The Star was only the first step in her investigation.
“If the facts did not add up, we would have ceased to move forward,” with the investigation, she stated. As she proceeded, she told the court, “The case just kept getting stronger.”
Crenshaw’s Timeline: April 22, 2025 – April 27, 2025
Crenshaw noted that HSI – Birmingham twice interviewed Hernandez Reyez during this period, while the agent investigating Abrego Garcia was present during the second interview.
On April 27, 2025, according to the judge’s timeline:
Agent Saoud calls McGuire to tell him about Abrego’s November 2022 traffic stop. Agent Saoud assigns Peter Joseph as the case agent.
“Singh sends McGuire an email requesting “time tomorrow morning to discuss” Hernandez-Reyes. Singh’s email includes the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Nicholas Ganjei, and the interim U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Prim Escalona.”
Missing Information:
In this portion, Crenshaw notes that Saoud called McGuire to inform the prosecutor of the traffic stop. He did not note that Saoud’s knowledge came from reporting by The Star, which by this point revealed the role played by the “Biden-era FBI” during the 2022 encounter by THP, citing high level sources and a THP spokesman.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: April 28, 2025 – May 1, 2025
The judge records the exchange of emails and phone calls between DOJ officials, and notes that McGuire began drafting his complaint against Abrego Garcia on April 29. Agents from HSI – Birningham interviewed Jose Hernandez Reyes again on this date, and allowed investigators to search his cell phone.
In a lengthy entry for the events of April 30, the judge noted that McGuire informed DOJ officials in Washington, D.C. that the Tennessee Department of Safety (TDOS) was planning to release the body-worn camera footage of the 2022 traffic stop.
Missing Information:
The Star and other media outlets had already filed public records requests to obtain the bodycam footage of Abrego Garcia, which showed troopers suggest he was “hauling people for cash,” before eventually releasing the vehicle after interacting with federal law enforcement.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Friday, May 2, 2025
“HSI-Nashville officially opens an investigation on Abrego.”
Missing Information:
In response to its public information request seeking video from the traffic stop, TDOS on April 29 informed The Star that the DOJ had already launched a federal investigation into Abrego Garcia.
Crenshaw’s Timeline: May 4, 2025 – June 6, 2025
This period generally reflects the work of federal investigators and prosecutors as the effort proceeded into a formal prosecution, as Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States to face the charges on June 6.
Regarding his return, Crenshaw cited comments by Todd Blanche during an interview on cable news. Now the Acting U.S. Attorney of the United States, Blanche at the time was a deputy under Bondi.
Citing the cable news interview, Crenshaw wrote:
Blanche “reveal[s] that the government started ‘investigating’ Abrego after ‘a judge in Maryland . . . questioned that decision.”
Missing Information:
This excerpt from Blanche’s statement does not appear to reflect the breadth of his remarks about the decision to begin investigating Abrego Garcia.
The president and the Department of Justice, since January 20, have been doing everything that we can to deport criminals that are here illegally, and that’s what we did with this man. We deported him, we got him out of here, and a judge in Maryland, and many members of Congress – we had a Senator fly down to meet with him – questioned that decision, and said no he’s just a family man. We said okay, we’ll look into it.
When we started looking into it, and we have great law enforcement officers and prosecutors, who started studying this man and investigating him. What we found is that we were right. We were right. He is a criminal who should be deported.
At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to protect the American people and to keep our country safe, so he was indicted, he was indicted on very serious charges because of very serious conduct that we learned about during our investigation, and so he’s returned, but he’s not returned for any other reason than to face justice, period.”
Crenshaw’s Timeline: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
“Peter Joseph testifies that it ‘would be atypical’ for Hernandez-Reyes ‘who’s in the country illegally, who’s been deported multiple times, who’s serving a sentence for illegal reentry’ to be ‘released to a halfway house toward the end of their federal sentence, as opposed to being sent to ICE custody and deported.’
Missing Information:
It was publicly reported in May 2025 that Hernandez Reyes was offered “limited immunity” in exchange for cooperating with investigators building a case against Abrego Garcia.
The Appeal
Within hours of the decision by Crenshaw to dismiss the case for vindictive prosecution, the DOJ confirmed to The Star in a Friday statement that it intends to appeal.
Mark Pulliam, who retired as a partner in a major law firm after 30 years of practice, and attended the February evidentiary hearing in the Abrego Garcia case, on Monday told The Star that he expects Crenshaw’s decision to be reversed by the Sixth Circuit.
Of the testimony by Saoud and McGuire at the February hearing, Pulliam said, “The testimony was undisputed that (1) Abrego Garcia’s stop by the Tennessee state police came to the attention of Nashville federal law enforcement authorities due to the reporting of The Tennessee Star, and (2) the decision to seek a grand jury indictment for human smuggling was made locally.”
Once the case rises to the appellate level, the veteran lawyer told The Star the lack of testimony corroborating claims of influence by political appointees in the Trump administration may become a critical weakness for Abrego Garcia and his attorneys.
“The potential Achille’s Heel is that local prosecutors consulted with DOJ officials in DC, per policy for high visibility cases, but no witness testified to any influence by Todd Blanche, Stephen Miller, Pam Bondi, et cetera,” said Pulliam. ” The ‘rebuttal presumption’ rubric doesn’t work here because this is a pre-trial charging decision, not post-trial retaliation, and also because the factual predicate (a comment by Blanche) is so tenuous. In any event, the witness debunked any but-for influence by Blanche or others.”
Pulliam questioned, “Crenshaw has conceded there was no actual evidence of retaliation. How can this not be enough to rebut a presumption? Crenshaw has concocted a legal Catch-22, sure to be reversed by the Sixth Court.”
While it is unclear how long the next stage of the case will take, the DOJ will have until June 22, 2026 to file its appeal.
Abrego Garcia’s defense attorneys include the founder of Hecker Fink, the New York-based law firm which previously represented former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in her civil case against President Donald Trump.
Locally, he is represented by Rascoe Dean of the firm Sherrard Roe Voigt and Harbison, which was recently contracted to oversee the creation of an independent report for the Nashville Electric Service (NES) following Winter Storm Fern. Dean is the son of former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, while his mother Anne Davis is the chairwoman of the NES board.
In 2025, The Star was recognized for its reporting on Abrego Garcia with the Dao Prize for Best Local Journalism.
You can watch the full one hour documentary, “Due Process in the Case of Illegal Alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” released as part of the Michael Patrick Leahy Investigates series in June 2025 here.
– – –
Michael Patrick Leahy is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star and a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize.
Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
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