Kilmar Abrego Garcia will sleep tonight without a criminal charge against him.
Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered him brought home last year from a Salvadoran torture prison where guards beat him with batons and kept him on his knees through the night. The Supreme Court agreed. The administration produced him in handcuffs and charged him with human smuggling for a three-year-old traffic stop that ended with a warning. All the while, they mocked him and his family and said he would never live in America again.
Judge Waverly Crenshaw threw the charges out Friday and called the prosecution an abuse of prosecuting power. Kilmar Abrego Garcia may still be deported. He is not in the torture place, and he is not convicted of charges the government wouldn’t defend. None of this is fair. Tonight is better.
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Chula Vista police sought court order to remove guns from San Diego mosque shooter's home 16 months before attack, citing Nazi idolization.
Today’s GovBrief News
Four Russian Kosmos military satellites maneuver into co-planar orbits within striking distance of a Finnish-American radar satellite supplying Ukraine with surveillance imagery.
Source: Ars Technica
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Greenland envoy Landry pitches 2 million barrels of daily Danish-territory oil to relieve Strait of Hormuz pressure after uninvited three-day visit.
Source: The Hill
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Trump administration prepares fresh Iran strikes as military and intelligence officials cancel Memorial Day plans and recall rosters activated overseas.
Source: CBS News
May 22, 2026
HUD strips emotional support animals from disability protections in housing, reversing first Trump administration guidance and threatening thousands of tenants with eviction.
Source: The New York Times [gift link]
May 22, 2026
Energy Secretary Wright tells Utah summit that global warming is real but "no big deal," not among the world's top 5 or 10 problems, urging Americans to drop "doomster" climate views.
Source: The Utah News Dispatch
May 22, 2026
Trump pick Warsh sworn in as Fed chair in first White House ceremony since 1987 with Justice Thomas, as Fed governor Waller warns rate hikes can no longer be ruled out.
Source: NBC News
May 22, 2026
National intelligence chief Gabbard resigns citing husband's bone cancer, after months of exclusion from Iran war debates and the Maduro capture operation.
Source: Bloomberg
May 22, 2026
USCIS forces visa holders seeking green cards to leave the U.S. and apply from abroad, ending longstanding practice used by roughly 1 million annually.
Source: UPI
May 22, 2026
OMB orders agencies to report all federal spending on 49 nonprofits doing DEI, LGBTQ+, immigration, civil rights, environmental and humanitarian work, including funding under active litigation.
Source: Federal News Network
May 22, 2026
White House orders all federal agencies to auto-install its official app on every government phone, pushing Trump policy statements, social media feeds, and a "text President Trump" button to millions of employees.
Source: Government Executive
May 22, 2026
Official White House Instagram posts AI video of Trump throwing Stephen Colbert into a dumpster on the Ed Sullivan stage one day after the Late Show finale.
Source: People
May 22, 2026
Donald Trump Jr. marries Florida socialite Bettina Anderson in West Palm Beach as Trump cites Iran war for skipping the wedding before preparing fresh strikes.
Source: The Hill
May 22, 2026
Commerce Secretary Lutnick donated $5 million to House GOP super PAC one month before his Epstein testimony to the House Oversight Committee.
Source: The Independent
May 22, 2026
Federal judge dismisses human smuggling indictment against wrongly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia as "vindictive and selective," citing DOJ retaliation for his successful return.
Source: The Tennessee Lookout
May 22, 2026