Advocacy group asks NY bar to investigate Todd Blanche's role in Abrego Garcia case
Source: ABC News
May 27, 2026, 4:48 PM
A legal advocacy group has asked the New York bar to investigate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for potential violations stemming from his role in the prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The letter, from the Campaign for Accountability, was sent days after the federal judge overseeing the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia dismissed the indictment, citing a "tainted investigation" by Blanche.
"The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego's successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution," U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote in his ruling on Friday.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March of last year to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison -- despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution -- after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies. He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, after which U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis released him from ICE detention while he was awaiting trial.
Judge Crenshaw, in his decision Friday, wrote that the timing of a DHS agent's decision to reopen a closed investigation of a November 2022 traffic stop, as well as "now unrebutted public statements tying the reopened investigation" to Abrego Garcia's successful lawsuit "taints the investigation with a vindictive motive."
Read more: https://abcnews.com/US/advocacy-group-asks-ny-bar-investigate-todd-blanches/story?id=133359627
Link to Campaign for Accountability PRESS RELEASE - Watchdog Files New York Bar Complaint Against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Link to FILING (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28166615-todd-blanche-bar-complaint-campaign-for-accountability-2-27-26/
Link to FILING (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28166615/todd-blanche-bar-complaint-campaign-for-accountability-2-27-26.pdf