US charges Kilmar Abrego Garcia with transporting illegal immigrants into the country
Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been charged with in the United States with transporting illegal immigrants into the country, nearly three months after the Trump administration mistakenly deported him to his native El Salvador.
The human trafficking charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver's license, according to the DHS report. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work.
The Justice Department was expected to announce charges Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Belfast Telegraph
an hour ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Man mistakenly deported to El Salvador brought back to US to face charges
Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces charges related to what US President Donald Trump's government said was a large human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally. His abrupt release from El Salvador is the latest twist in a saga that sparked a months-long standoff between Trump administration officials and the courts over a deportation that officials initially acknowledged was done in error but then continued to stand behind in apparent defiance of orders by judges to facilitate his return to the US. The development occurred after US officials presented El Salvador President Nayib Bukele with an arrest warrant for federal charges in Tennessee accusing Abrego Garcia of playing a key role in smuggling immigrants into the country for money. He is expected to be prosecuted in the US and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country of El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said. 'This is what American justice looks like,' US attorney general Pam Bondi said in announcing Abrego Garcia's return and the unsealing of a grand jury indictment. Abrego Garcia's lawyers called the case 'baseless'. 'There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy,' lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Federal magistrate judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee, determined that Abrego Garcia will be held in custody until at least next Friday, when there will be an arraignment and detention hearing. Abrego Garcia appeared in court wearing a short-sleeved, white, buttoned shirt. When asked if he understood the charges, he told the judge through an interpreter: 'Yes. I understand.' Democrats and immigrant rights groups had pressed for Abrego Garcia's release, with several politicians – including senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, where Abrego Garcia had lived for years – even travelling to El Salvador to visit him. A federal judge had ordered him to be returned in April and the US Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by directing the government to work to bring him back. But the news that Abrego Garcia, who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs, was being brought back for the purpose of prosecution was greeted with dismay by his lawyers. The case also prompted the resignation of a top supervisor in the US attorney's office in Nashville, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. Ben Schrader, who was chief of the office's criminal division, did not explain the reason for his resignation but posted to social media around the time the indictment was being handed down, saying: 'It has been an incredible privilege to serve as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, where the only job description I've ever known is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.'
BreakingNews.ie
2 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Man mistakenly deported to El Salvador brought back to US to face charges
A man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador has been returned to the United States to face criminal charges. Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces charges related to what US President Donald Trump's government said was a large human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally. Advertisement His abrupt release from El Salvador is the latest twist in a saga that sparked a months-long standoff between Trump administration officials and the courts over a deportation that officials initially acknowledged was done in error but then continued to stand behind in apparent defiance of orders by judges to facilitate his return to the US. The development occurred after US officials presented El Salvador President Nayib Bukele with an arrest warrant for federal charges in Tennessee accusing Abrego Garcia of playing a key role in smuggling immigrants into the country for money. He is expected to be prosecuted in the US and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country of El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said. 'This is what American justice looks like,' US attorney general Pam Bondi said in announcing Abrego Garcia's return and the unsealing of a grand jury indictment. The indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia that charges him with transporting people who were in the United States illegally (AP Photo/Jon Elswick) Abrego Garcia's lawyers called the case 'baseless'. Advertisement 'There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy,' lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Federal magistrate judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee, determined that Abrego Garcia will be held in custody until at least next Friday, when there will be an arraignment and detention hearing. Abrego Garcia appeared in court wearing a short-sleeved, white, buttoned shirt. When asked if he understood the charges, he told the judge through an interpreter: 'Yes. I understand.' Democrats and immigrant rights groups had pressed for Abrego Garcia's release, with several politicians – including senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, where Abrego Garcia had lived for years – even travelling to El Salvador to visit him. A federal judge had ordered him to be returned in April and the US Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by directing the government to work to bring him back. Advertisement But the news that Abrego Garcia, who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs, was being brought back for the purpose of prosecution was greeted with dismay by his lawyers. The case also prompted the resignation of a top supervisor in the US attorney's office in Nashville, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. Ben Schrader, who was chief of the office's criminal division, did not explain the reason for his resignation but posted to social media around the time the indictment was being handed down, saying: 'It has been an incredible privilege to serve as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, where the only job description I've ever known is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.' He declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press on Friday. Advertisement
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The death row inmate's last meal that sparked such fury prisoners are no longer allowed to choose what they eat before execution
While many American prisoners awaiting the death penalty are able to choose their final meal before execution, inmates in Texas no longer have this privilege thanks to the actions of one man. White supremacist Lawrence Brewer was executed in 2011 after he was convicted of helping to kill a black man by dragging him behind a truck in what some call the most notorious race crime of the post-Civil Rights era. Brewer, 44 - who was convicted of capital murder along with two other men also found guilty of taking part in the kidnapping and slaying of James Byrd Jr. in 1998 - was given a lethal injection of drugs on September 21 and was pronounced dead shortly after. He had no final words, but he did put in a request for his last meal - two chicken steaks, a triple bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, three fajitas, a pizza, a pint of ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge. Guards did their best to bring Brewer his favourite foods before his death. But as his dinner was plated up and presented to him on a table, Brewer refused to eat a single bite. His refusal to eat the multi-course meal angered Texas senator John Whitmire, prompting him to put an end to the tradition, saying 'it's long overdue.' 'Enough is enough', the senator declared, stating that the last meal request is an 'extremely inappropriate' privilege, 'one which the perpetrators did not provide to their victim.' 'Mr Byrd didn't get to choose his last meal. The whole deal is so illogical', he added. Executive director of the Texas criminal justice department, Brad Livingston, agreed with Sen. Whitmire. He said: 'I believe Senator Whitmire's concerns regarding the practice of allowing death row offenders to choose their last meal are valid. 'Effective immediately, no such accommodations will be made. They will receive the same meal served to other offenders on the unit.' Brewer had been on death row for 12 years before his 2011 execution. Speaking to local media before receiving his lethal injection, he said death would be a 'good out' and that he was 'glad it's about to come to an end.' Asked if he had any last words, he replied: 'No. I have no final statement', as a single tear rolled down his cheek. Brewer was executed for his part in the 1998 killing of Byrd in Jasper, East Texas, after Brewer and two friends offered him a lift along a remote country road. Byrd, aged 49 at the time, was beaten unconscious and urinated upon before being bound to the vehicle by his ankles with a heavy logging chain and driven for three miles. Forensic evidence showed that he was alive for much of the ordeal but was killed when the vehicle hit a concrete drainage channel causing his head and arm to be ripped from his body. John William King, 36, was also convicted of capital murder and sent to death row. The third man, Shawn Berry, 36, received a life prison term. After dumping his remains in an African-American cemetery his killers drove off to a barbeque. In an interview from death row, Brewer told KFDM that he participated in the assault on Byrd but had 'nothing to do with the killing as far as dragging him or driving the truck or anything'. Before receiving his lethal injection, Brewer's family was allowed to see him one last time. He was then taken from the Polunsky Unit in Livingston to an isolation cell in Huntsville where the sentence was carried out. Byrd's brutal killing led to the 'Federal October 22, 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act', commonly known as the 'Matthew Shepard Act'. Then-President Barack Obama signed the bill into law on October 28, 2009. The horrific death put Jasper, a typical East Texas town with a Dairy Queen, Walmart and a handful of fast-food places some 60 miles from the nearest interstate highway, under a national spotlight. 'Everywhere you went, anywhere in the country, once people found out you were from Jasper, Texas, they wanted to ask you about it,' said Mike Lout, mayor and the town radio station owner. 'Everybody first was shocked and appalled and not proud of it. They talked about it so much in the days past it, I think most people wanted to put it out of their minds.' 'It's heartbreaking,' said Billy Rowles, who was sheriff at the time of Mr Byrd's murder. 'A lot of effort and hard work and soul-searching went into trying to live down the stereotype. It's so easy to get back into that mode.' His huge last meal had echoes of that enjoyed by Robert Harris in 1992, who killed two teenage boys. He had a chicken bucket, two large pizzas, a Pepsi six-pack, jelly beans and Camel cigarettes. The subject of last meals before execution has thrown up some interesting results over the last few decades, with infamous killer James Smith being refused a request of dirt in 1990 and instead eating yoghurt. While not a mandatory requirement for prisoners on death row in countries where the death penalty still exists, the request is often granted in the US, with the final meals written into public records of executions. Despite Texas' decision to no longer allow prisoners to choose their last meals, other states continue to give inmates the option to. Some states, however, have a final meal price limit, while others require the meal to be served within a specific time. It is not uncommon for prisoners to order nostalgic meals that offer them a last flavour of happiness before they face the most extreme punishment possible for their heinous crimes. While extensive, Brewer's request was far from the largest or most bizarre death row meal orders. Back in 2011, prisoner Cleve Foster's requested two fried chickens, French fries and a 19-litre bucket of peaches. In 2000, Odell Barnes Jr. from Texas, who was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Helen Bass, requested 'justice, equality and world peace.' In 2002, Robert Anthony Buell, from Ohio, was executed by lethal injection for the 1982 murder of 11-year-old Krista Lea Harrison. For his final meal, he requested a single, black, un-pitted olive.
