Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Man wrongly deported to El Salvador returning to the US to face criminal charges
A man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration is returning to the US to face criminal charges.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was charged in an indictment filed in federal court in Tennessee with conspiring to transport illegal immigrants into the US, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Friday.
The indictment was filed on 21 May, more than two months after he was deported from the US, court records have shown.
In a statement, Abrego Garcia's lawyer Andrew Rossman said: "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."
Abrego Garcia was deported from Maryland despite an immigration judge's 2019 order granting him protection after finding he was likely to be persecuted by gangs if he was returned there.
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Belfast Telegraph
2 hours 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
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Deported notorious migrant dubbed 'Maryland man' is on his way BACK to America from El Salvador prison
A migrant man who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador has returned to the US. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, was brought back to face criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants around the US. The Trump administration initially accepted it had made a mistake in deporting Abrego Garcia, a father-of-three who arrived in the US illegally more than a decade ago. On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Abrego Garcia had landed 'to face justice' over allegations of people smuggling and conspiracy to commit smuggling. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also championed his return, saying it proved the 'unhinged Democrat Party' was wrong about Abrego Garcia, who liberals had dubbed a ' Maryland father-of-three'. Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador after being accused of being an MS-13 gang member. The deportation went ahead despite a court order forbidding his return which claimed he was at risk of persecution by the gang. Prior to this he had several brushes with the law in the US over the years, although none resulted in arrest or conviction. After initially ignoring a court order to facilitate his repatriation to the US, Bondi announced that Abrego Garcia has been hauled back to America to face charges stemming from one of these encounters. . @AGPamBondi announces Kilmar Abrego Garcia "has landed in the United States to face justice" on charges of alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling. "Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador." — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 6, 2025 A federal grand jury indicted Abrego Garcia over claims he participated in a years- long operation trafficking people through the Texas border. Sources told ABC News that amongst those allegedly transported were members of the infamous Salvadoran gang MS-13. The conspiracy is said to have spanned nearly ten years and involved the transportation of thousands of migrants from Mexico and Central America. He is expected to be prosecuted and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country at the conclusion of the case, officials said. The investigation into the charges started after federal authorities started probing a 2022 traffic stop of Abrego Garcia by the Tennessee Highway Patrol, source said. He was stopped with eight people in his car and told officers he was driving them from Texas to Maryland for a construction job. The exchange led the officer to, 'suspect this was a human trafficking incident', according to a report produced at the time. But Abrego Garcia was let go with out any arrest or charge, despite having an expired license, per the document. Abrego Garcia was deported in March to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison after the administration claimed he was a member of MS-13. Something he and his family have denied. President Donald Trump had repeatedly maintained in an interview with ABC's Terry Moran that Abrego Garcia has M-S-1-3 tattooed on his hand. Trump had posted multiple times showing knuckle tattoos, but Moran told him the actual M-S-1-3 letters and numbers had simply been photoshopped onto the image above Abrego Garcia's actual tattoos as a code to decipher them. His deportation saga began when he was pulled over by immigration officers on March 12 and was told his immigration status had changed. Within days he was on a plane to El Salvador and his family recognized him in CECOT from media images which showed off distinctive tattoos on his arm. Abrego Garcia was granted 'withholding of removal' status in 2019 after a judge determined his claims that he would be persecuted if he returned to El Salvador were legitimate. President Trump had said that he could retrieve Abrego Garcia with one phone call to El Salvador's president, but refused to do it. Abrego Garcia´s American wife sued over his deportation, and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered his return on April 4. The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the administration must work to bring him back. Late last month the administration asked a judge to throw out the lawsuit, arguing the court lacked jurisdiction because he was no longer in the US. Attorneys for the administration have also argued that information about returning Abrego Garcia is protected under state secrets privilege. U.S. attorneys said releasing such details in open court - or even to the judge in private - would jeopardize national security by revealing sensitive diplomatic negotiations. Many filings in the case have been sealed. The case has raised questions about whether due process was followed and highlighted the extent to which the White House is trying to exert control over the courts to bolster its immigration policy. US Senator Chris Van Hollen, who represents Maryland, had traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia. In a statement on Friday, he said: 'For months the Trump Administration flouted the Supreme Court and our Constitution. 'Today, they appear to have finally relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and with the due process afforded to everyone in the United States. 'As I have repeatedly said, this is not about the man, it's about his constitutional rights – and the rights of all. 'The Administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along.' In a statement about his return, Abrego Garcia's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said: 'From the beginning, this case has made one thing painfully clear: The government had the power to bring him back at any time. 'Instead, they chose to play games with the court and with a man's life. We're not just fighting for Kilmar - we're fighting to ensure due process rights are protected for everyone. 'Because tomorrow, this could be any one of us -- if we let power go unchecked, if we ignore our Constitution.' Abrego Garcia's wife has stood by him throughout the saga, despite previously filing a report of domestic abuse against her husband. The Salvadoran was never charged over the report which was later retracted.
