Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported to El Salvador prison, to face federal charges in Nashville
Protesters outside the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt rally on April 4, 2025, in support of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who was deported to El Salvador in an 'administrative error,' calling for him to be returned to the U.S. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man the Trump Administration conceded had been wrongly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison, has been returned to the United States and is scheduled to be arraigned in a Nashville federal court on Friday.
A two-count Tennessee grand jury indictment, issued May 21 and unsealed Friday, alleges Abrego Garcia and unnamed co-conspirators were members of the MS-13 gang and 'knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens' for profit between 2016 and 2025.
The indictment, filed in the Middle District of Tennessee, accuses Abrego Garcia 'of conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain' and 'unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.' The indictment does not name nor charge any alleged co-conspirators.
In a separate motion filed Friday, prosecutors seek to keep Garcia in detention, alleging he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Wrongly deported Maryland man Abrego Garcia returned to U.S.
Chris Newman, an attorney representing the Abrego Garcia family said at a virtual press event Friday that he remained skeptical of the federal charges lodged at Abrego Garcia.
'I can tell you that we should all treat whatever charges that are being leveled against him with a high degree of suspicion,' Newman said.
'We should make sure that he gets a fair (trial) in court because he's clearly not getting a fair hearing in the court of public opinion,' he said.
Abrego Garcia's deportation served as a flashpoint for the Trump Administration's mass deportations of immigrants without a hearing or ordinary due process rights that give immigrants —– and all U.S. residents —– the right to defend themselves against charges of illegal activities.
In April, the Supreme Court ruled the Trump Administration had to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return to the United States. For the next two months, administration officials said Abrego Garcia's return was out of their hands and up to the government of El Salvador.
On Friday, in a nationally televised news conference, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked Nayib Bukele, that nation's president, for agreeing to Abrego Garcia's release.
The criminal charges filed in Nashville are tied to a November 2022 traffic stop by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Abrego Garcia was driving an SUV with nine Hispanic men when he was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 40 in Putnam County about 80 miles east of Nashville, court records said. He was not charged in the incident.
Prosecutors now allege that further investigation revealed the stop involved Abrego Garcia smuggling migrants within the United States illegally.
Rob McGuire, who has served as acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee since last year, and lawyers for the Joint Task Force Vulcan —– a unit established specifically to investigate MS-13 gang members —– are listed in court records as prosecutors in the case.
ABC News, citing unnamed sources, reported late Friday that the decision to pursue an indictment against Abrego Garcia led to the abrupt resignation of Ben Schrader, former chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office on Friday referred requests for information about the date and circumstances of Schrader's departure, including a copy of any letter of resignation, to a human resources officer, who did not immediately respond on Friday.
Schrader, in a LinkedIn post two weeks ago, announced his resignation from the job he held for 15 years.
Schrader wrote 'the only job description I've ever known is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.'
Schrader did not give a reason for his resignation in his public post and did not respond Friday to a an email sent to his address at Vanderbilt University, where he is listed as holding a teaching post.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia indictment
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
33 minutes ago
- New York Times
California Lawsuit Will Challenge Trump's Order Sending National Guard to L.A., Newsom Says
The state of California will file suit against the Trump administration over its move to take control of the state's National Guard and deploy its troops to Los Angeles to protect immigration enforcement agents, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a social media post Monday. The governor has argued that local law enforcement agencies were effectively managing the response to protests over recent immigration raids, and that there was no need for President Trump to call up the National Guard. Before the lawsuit was filed, Mr. Newsom's office appeared to foreshadow the litigation in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday. 'In dynamic and fluid situations such as the one in Los Angeles, state and local authorities are the most appropriate ones to evaluate the need for resources to safeguard life and property,' Mr. Newsom's legal affairs secretary, David Sapp, wrote in the letter. 'Indeed the decision to deploy the National Guard, without appropriate training or orders, risks seriously escalating the situation.' Mr. Trump said on Saturday that he was imposing federal control over at least 2,000 National Guard troops for at least 60 days in order to quell the protests, and directed Mr. Hegseth to determine which ones to use. The order did not specify that the troops needed to come from California, but so far the California National Guard has been used, according to the U.S. Northern Command. Mr. Trump's order suggested that protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and detention facilities were interfering with federal functions, and that they constituted a rebellion against the federal government's authority and its ability to enforce federal law. That is the standard for invoking the Insurrection Act to use the military for domestic policing. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
36 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: National Institutes of Health Workers Denounce ‘Harmful' Policies
The U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, at Lancaster House in London on Monday as trade talks resumed between the United States and China. Top officials from the Trump administration are meeting with their Chinese counterparts in London on Monday for a second round of economic talks, aiming to cement a trade truce between the world's two largest economies. The American delegation is led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer, the United States' trade representative. China is represented by He Lifeng, the country's vice premier for economic policy, who led the previous round of talks in Switzerland. The meetings are expected to run through Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks come at a delicate juncture for the global economy, which has been slowed by uncertainty and supply chain disruptions. In April, the United States paused some of the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on dozens of countries to provide time for trade negotiations. Those levies, as well as steep import taxes on Chinese goods, were thrust into further uncertainty in late May, when a U.S. trade court deemed them illegal. The tariffs, however, remain in place while an appeal process unfolds. As the U.S. delegation negotiates in London, the Trump administration faces a deadline to make its case to a federal appeals court for why the tariffs should continue. The legal limbo surrounding the tariffs could weaken the Trump administration's hand as it tries to negotiate a broader agreement to give American businesses greater access to China's market, push Beijing to buy more American products and attract more Chinese investment to build factories in the United States. At the same time, the Trump administration wants to make some tariffs essentially permanent to discourage a flood of Chinese exports of manufactured goods. The trade war has triggered sudden and drastic shifts in the flow of Chinese goods, most notably a sharp slowdown of Chinese exports to the United States. China on Monday reported that shipments to the United States fell by over 34 percent in May from the same month a year ago, the steepest decline since 2020. The slowdown may have contributed to Beijing's willingness to meet in London for more trade talks, experts said. In China, a slow-motion housing market collapse over the past four years has wiped out much of the savings of the country's middle class, leaving hundreds of millions of households reluctant to spend. China has tried to offset weak consumer spending at home with a huge, government-financed campaign to build factories and ramp up exports. But the Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, has been wary that these exports could crush what is left of America's manufacturing sector, which is only half the size of China's. The Trump administration has cited trade imbalances as justification for tariffs against China and dozens of other countries, many of which pay for their own trade deficits with China by running large trade surpluses with the United States. Mr. Trump's trade agenda has upended international commerce this year, sending economic allies and adversaries scrambling to negotiate deals with Washington in hopes of a reprieve on tariff threats. The abrupt announcement of tariffs on America's largest trading partners have often been followed by reversals or pauses, forcing businesses to adjust their plans on the fly and rattling investors. The first round of negotiations between China and the United States, in Geneva last month, ended with promise. The countries agreed to temporarily reduce their tariffs, which exceeded 100 percent as a tit-for-tat trade war escalated. The two sides also agreed to hold additional talks as they worked to lower the temperature. However, the truce appeared to fray in recent weeks. China maintained strict curbs on exports of rare earth magnets that have crippled supply chains. Partly in response to those export curbs, among other things the Trump administration suspended sales to China of technologies related to jet engines, semiconductors and certain chemicals and machinery as well as proposed a plan to revoke visas for Chinese students associated with the Communist Party or studying in certain fields. The standoff frustrated Mr. Trump, who lashed out at China on social media and accused it of 'violating' the Geneva agreement. China hit back, arguing that it was the United States that was undermining the deal. A 90-minute conversation between Mr. Trump and Xi Jinping, China's leader, last week appeared to ease the tension. Mr. Trump suggested that the questions surrounding China's restrictions on critical minerals known as rare earths, and magnets made from them, had been addressed and that talks would proceed. Mr. Trump also seemed to soften his administration's stance on visas for Chinese students. It remains unclear what additional concession Washington or Beijing might be prepared to make in a broader economic agreement. The addition to the U.S. delegation of Mr. Lutnick, who was not part of the talks in May, suggested that there could be greater discussion of American export controls, which his agency oversees. The Trump administration also expressed concerns about China's currency practices in a report to Congress last week. Although it declined to formally label China a currency manipulator, the report warned that it might do so in the future if it found evidence that suggested China was weakening its currency. The talks in London come as many factories in the United States, Europe and Japan are quickly running out of rare earth magnets, for which China produces 90 percent of the world's supply. Beijing announced on April 4 that it would require export licenses for all exports of seven rare earth metals and magnets made from them, which are widely used in cars, drones, speakers, fighter jets and ballistic missiles. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said in an interview on CBS's 'Face the Nation' on Sunday that a goal of the talks would be to get shipments of rare earths from China 'to flow just as they did before the beginning of April.' Rare earths are a family of 17 metals found near the bottom of the periodic table. China is particularly dominant in the processing of the seven for which it now requires licenses to export, producing up to 99.9 percent of the world's supply. The big question lies in what concessions by the United States and others will prompt Beijing to allow further shipments of rare earths. In addition to pressing the United States to remove Mr. Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday that it had offered to speed up the approval of rare earth exports to Europe. But the ministry also called for the European Union to remove its recent tariffs on imports of electric cars from China, and it called for the bloc to allow more sales of high-tech goods to China. Under pressure from the United States, the Netherlands has limited the sale to China of equipment for manufacturing the most advanced semiconductors, which have many military as well as civilian applications. Alexandra Stevenson contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
LA mayor: Trump deployment of troops a ‘chaotic escalation'
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) slammed President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops in the city as a 'chaotic escalation' amid rising tensions between law enforcement officers and protesters pushing back against federal immigration enforcement tactics. 'What we're seeing in our city is chaos provoked by the Trump Administration,' Bass said in a message to Los Angeles residents late Sunday. 'When you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you cause fear and panic,' she added. 'And deployment of federalized troops on the heels of raids is a chaotic escalation.' The former congresswoman, who was elected mayor of Los Angeles in late 2022, urged demonstrators to exercise their right to protest peacefully. 'Angelenos have the right to make their voices heard through peaceful protest but don't fall into the Administration's trap,' Bass said in her emailed message to residents. 'Violence is unacceptable,' she said. 'No one should be put in danger — not law enforcement, not protestors. I urge everyone to be peaceful.' 'The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real – it's felt in our communities and within our families. It is clear that the Administration is pushing an agenda — there is clearly no plan other than chaos,' she added. 'We will rise above it.' The message follows Trump's deployment of National Guard members to Los Angeles on Sunday to quell protesters demonstrating against federal immigration enforcement tactics. Trump said he has deployed 2,000 National Guard members, 300 of whom were already on the ground by midafternoon Sunday. The federalization of the California National Guard represents a rare and legally murky step that bypassed the consent of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who said Sunday evening that he plans to bring a lawsuit against the Trump administration for going around him. The last time the federal government mobilized National Guard members without the consent of the governor was in 1965, when former President Lyndon Johnson sent Guard members to Selma, Ala., to protect civil rights protesters there. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
