Overview

• U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw on Friday granted discovery and set an evidentiary hearing on claims that the Tennessee human smuggling case is a vindictive or selective prosecution.
• Crenshaw highlighted Blanche’s June TV comments and the charging timeline as evidence suggesting the investigation followed Abrego Garcia’s courtroom win in Maryland.
• Prosecutors indicted Abrego Garcia on May 21 and charged him June 6, the day he was brought back from a Salvadoran prison; he has pleaded not guilty.
• An immigration judge this week denied his asylum request, which he can appeal, and he remains in federal custody in Pennsylvania.
• Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March despite a 2019 order barring his return there, and federal officials say he would be deported if convicted in the Tennessee case.