Politics

Attorneys for Ábrego told CBS News that the justice department’s appeal was “flat wrong”.

In a statement, they said: “The indictment and prosecution of Ábrego García was, in fact, vindictive; the evidence before the district court established just that; and the proof was clear notwithstanding the DoJ’s refusal to call the actual decision makers, including AG Blanche, to testify under oath.

“This case was initiated vindictively and on instructions from the White House after our client successfully won his supreme court case”.

Ama Frimpong, chief of services at We Are Casa, an immigration advocacy group representing Ábrego, said in May that the case was “nothing more than a political vendetta”. Frimpong also said that the Trump administration had “brazenly attempted to weaponize the criminal legal system” against Ábrego to “punish him for exposing their unlawful actions”.

Ábrego, 30, fled to the US aged 16 to escape gang extortion in El Salvador, according to court records. He moved to Maryland, where his brother lives as a US citizen. But Ábrego was not authorized to stay there.