A federal judge has dismissed a criminal case against wrongly deported Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who accused Donald Trump’s administration of unlawfully targeting him as part of a smear campaign.Last year, he was abruptly deported to a brutal Salvadoran prison where he says he endured torture and “severe” abuse for several weeks before he was transferred to a separate jail. Government officials admitted in court that his removal was due to an “error,” and several federal judges and a unanimous Supreme Court ordered the administration to “facilitate” his return.The government spent weeks battling court orders to bring him back while White House officials launched a barrage of public attacks against him and declared that he would never again step foot in the country.He was returned to the U.S. last June — only to face allegations that he illegally moved other immigrants across the country. He pleaded not guilty.“Objective evidence” has shown that federal prosecutors only brought charges against Abrego Garcia after he won his lawsuit challenging his arrest and removal, according to Friday’s order from District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee.A decision to re-open a previously closed investigation against Abrego Garcia, coupled with public statements from administration officials including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that tied the case to Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit “taints the investigation with a vindictive motive,” Crenshaw wrote.That vindictive taint continued as prosecutors continued to work on the case leading to last year’s indictment, including as the White House “found a way” to bring him back from El Salvador to comply with court orders to return him to the U.S.The judge finds “insufficient evidence of actual vindictiveness” but said the government “has failed to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness.”This is a developing story