Abrego Garcia Is Being Returned to U.S. From El Salvador
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man at the center of a legal and political maelstrom after being mistakenly deported to El Salvador, is expected to return to the United States to face charges related to transporting undocumented migrants in the country, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court in Tennessee late Friday.
The stunning move, which had quietly been planned for several weeks, could provide a much-needed offramp for the Trump administration, which has bitterly opposed a series of court orders to take steps to release him following his wrongful removal on March 15.
The 10-page indictment also represents a potential effort to save face: Bringing Mr. Abrego Garcia back to face criminal charges — rather than complying with the dictates of three federal courts, including the Supreme Court — allows the White House to avoid an increasingly difficult legal confrontation, while enabling the administration to press its claim that he is a dangerous criminal who was worthy of removal in the first place.
Since the start of the case, administration officials have sought to depict Mr. Abrego Garcia, a metal worker who has lived illegally in the United States without incident for years, as a member of the violent street gang MS-13. The charges filed against him in Federal District Court in Nashville accused him of belonging to the gang and taking part in a conspiracy to 'transport thousands of undocumented aliens' across the United States.
His lawyers said they welcomed their day in court and pointed out that the government's decision to return him to the United States undercut its longstanding efforts to keep him in El Salvador.
'Today's action proves what we've known all along — that the administration had the ability to bring him back and just refused to do so,' said Andrew Rossman, a lawyer for Mr. Abrego Garcia. 'It's now up to our judicial system to see that Mr. Abrego Garcia receives the due process that the constitution guarantees to all persons.'
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