A federal judge in Tennessee ruled that Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s claim of vindictive prosecution is strong enough to require further investigation, court documents show.

District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw said in a 16-page memorandum opinion Friday that there was a “realistic likelihood of vindictiveness” behind the United States government’s decision to prosecute Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador native and Beltsville resident.

Abrego Garcia argues that federal officials revived a dormant case against him only after he successfully sued the government in Maryland over his mistaken deportation to El Salvador. He was brought back to the United States in June to face charges for two counts of smuggling undocumented migrants in Tennessee.

The court documents show a criminal investigation into Abrego Garcia was opened days after the Supreme Court affirmed the Maryland court ruling that said the United States unlawfully deported him and would have to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

The defense team also pointed to public statements made by federal government officials.

The memorandum opinion refers to a Fox News interview with Deputy Attorney General Tom Blanche in June in which he said Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States to be investigated after a Maryland judge found the government had “no right to deport him.” Blanche also said Abrego Garcia was not brought back to the United States “for any other reason than to face justice.”

“This could be direct evidence of vindictiveness,” Crenshaw said in Friday’s opinion. “Deputy Attorney General Blanche’s remarkable statements could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego’s criminal charges stem from his exercise of his constitutional and statutory rights to bring suit against the Executive Official Defendants, rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct.”

Vindictive prosecution, which is when a person is brought to court in retaliation for exercising their legal rights, is difficult to prove. The ruling does not decide whether the prosecution is vindictive. Instead, it keeps the indictment in place but opens the door for Abrego to challenge it with evidence at a hearing.

Other evidence presented by the defense included statements and social media posts that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem made after Abrego Garcia’s arrest. In a post on X, she called Abrego Garcia “a known MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, and serial domestic abuser,” according to the court documents.

This ruling allows Abrego Garcia’s defense team to gather more evidence that shows the federal government acted vindictively when prosecuting him and present it to the court during an evidentiary hearing. The government will have to explain its decision-making process, and it may also bring evidence for prosecuting Abrego Garcia that is unrelated to his case in Maryland.

It is unclear what would happen to the case if vindictive prosecution is proven.

On Friday night, Sen. Chris Van Hollen said in a post to X that Abrego Garcia’s rights “must be upheld.”

“Today a judge said what has been clear from the beginning: the evidence shows the Trump Admin is vindictively punishing Mr. Abrego Garcia for having the audacity to pursue his due process rights,” he said in the post.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tennessee and Abrego Garcia’s lawyers declined to comment.

Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

Abrego Garcia has been at the center of a national showdown between immigration advocates and the federal government.

In August, Abrego Garcia, a 30-year-old father of three, was released from pretrial detention in Tennessee. He was allowed to briefly return to Maryland and visit with his family.

Days later, he was summoned to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore after he denied a plea deal that promised he would be deported to Costa Rica if he pled guilty to smuggling charges. Before he entered the ICE office, where he was taken into custody again, he gathered with supporters and his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, outside the building.

The Department of Homeland Security has said it will seek to deport him to Eswatini, a small country in Southern Africa, while he awaits trial.

Last week, Abrego Garcia was moved from a Virginia detention center to one in rural Pennsylvania, sparking new alarm from his lawyers about their ability to prepare for his upcoming trial.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers expressed concerns in a letter to the court about their client’s transfer on Friday morning from the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia to a detention center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, according to court records.

On Wednesday, a U.S. immigration judge denied a bid for asylum from Abrego Garcia. The judge in Baltimore rejected an application to reopen Abrego Garcia’s 2019 asylum case, but that is not the final word. Abrego Garcia has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

This article has been updated.