Kilmar Abrego-Garcia to return to U.S. to face human trafficking charges
(WTVO) — Deported Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been returned to the U.S. to face charges of human trafficking, according to .
Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador from Maryland despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation there over a fear of persecution.
A federal grand jury has indicted Garcia for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the United States over nearly a decade, involving thousands of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America, ABC News reported.
Among those were members of MS-13, a Salvadoran gang, the investigation said. The Trump administration had previously accused Garcia of being a member of MS-13, although his wife and attorneys have denied it.
In the charging documents, prosecutors alleged that Garcia was part of a conspiracy to transport illegal migrants, including MS-13 gang members, women, and children, and sometimes weapons and drugs, from Texas to other locations in the United States.
According to one co-conspirator, Garcia also abused some of the female undocumented migrants, which caused him to report Garcia's behavior to the other co-conspirators because it was 'bad for business.'
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in April that his state would take punitive actions against El Salvador for holding Garcia in custody.
The Salvadoran native reportedly fled to the U.S. when he was 16 and lived in Maryland for roughly 14 years. In 2022, he was stopped by Tennessee State Troopers, who, in released , suspected he was a human trafficker. However, he and his passengers were released from the scene.
The federal documents alleged that Garcia and his co-conspirators 'devised and employed knowingly false cover stories to provide to law enforcement if they were ever stopped during a transport. These false cover stories regularly involved the transportation of individuals (i.e. the undocumented aliens) for work, such as a construction job.'
One of Garcia's co-conspirators was allegedly involved in the transportation of more than 150 migrants that ended when the trailer overturned in Mexico, and injuring others, according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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