Latest news with #ÁbregoGarcía
Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
US brings back El Salvador deportee to face charges
WASHINGTON — Kilmar Ábrego García, a 29-year-old from El Salvador mistakenly deported in March, has been returned to the US to face prosecution on two federal criminal charges. He has been accused of participating in a trafficking conspiracy over several years to move undocumented migrants from Texas to other parts of the country. El Salvador agreed to release Ábrego García after the US presented it with an arrest warrant, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Friday. His lawyer called the charges "preposterous". The White House had been resisting a US Supreme Court order from April to "facilitate" his return after he was sent to a jail in El Salvador alongside more than 250 other deportees. In a two-count grand jury indictment, filed in a Tennessee court last month and unsealed on Friday, Ábrego García was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and a second count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. Bondi said the grand jury had found that Ábrego García had played a "significant role" in an alien smuggling ring, bringing in thousands of illegal immigrants to the US. The allegations, which date back to 2016, allege he transported undocumented individuals between Texas and Maryland and other states more than 100 times. The indictment additionally alleges he transported members of MS-13, designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US. The Trump administration had previously alleged Ábrego García was a member of the transnational Salvadorian gang, which he has denied. Bondi also accused Ábrego García of trafficking weapons and narcotics into the US for the gang, though he was not charged with any related offenses. He appeared in court for an initial hearing on Friday in Nashville, Tennessee. An arraignment hearing is scheduled 13 June, where US Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes will determine if there are grounds to keep him detained ahead of his trial. For now, Ábrego García remains in federal custody. Ábrego García's lawyers have previously argued that he has never been convicted of any criminal offense, including gang membership, in the US or in El Salvador. Simon Sandoval Moshenberg, one of his attorneys, called the charges "preposterous" and the events an "abuse of power" at a Friday news conference. "The government disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order," Moshenberg said. "Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him." He added: "This is an abuse of power, not justice. The government should give him a full and fair trial in front of the same immigration judge who heard the case in 2019." Speaking to reporters on Friday, President Donald Trump called Ábrego García a "bad guy" and said the Department of Justice had made the right decision to return him to US soil to face trial. Ábrego García entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities. But an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from local gangs in his home country On 15 March, he was deported amid an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law that allows presidents to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy country. Ábrego García was taken to the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador, known for its brutal conditions. While government lawyers initially said he was taken there as a result of "administrative error", the Trump administration refused to order his return. Whether or not the government had to "facilitate" his return to his home in the US state of Maryland became the subject of a weeks-long legal and political battle. After Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen demanded to see Ábrego García in El Salvador, he was released to a different prison in that country. On Friday, Van Hollen reiterated that "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." El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a close ally of Trump, said on social media on Friday that if the administration "request the return of a gang member to face charges, of course we wouldn't refuse". Ábrego García is expected to make an initial appearance at a Tennessee court on Friday, where the US will request he be held in pretrial custody "because he poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight", according to the detention motion. — BBC
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kilmar Ábrego García returned from El Salvador to face criminal charges in US
Kilmar Ábrego García, the man whom the Donald Trump administration mistakenly deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March, returned to the US on Friday to face criminal charges. In a press briefing on Friday, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said that a federal grand jury in Tennessee had indicted Ábrego García on counts of illegally smuggling undocumented people as well as of conspiracy to commit that crime. 'Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant and they agreed to return him to our country,' Bondi said of Ábrego García. She thanked the Salvadorian president, Nayib Bukele, 'for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges'. 'This is what American justice looks like upon completion of his sentence,' Bondi added. Ábrego García – a 29-year-old Salvadorian whose wife and young child in Maryland are US citizens – appeared in federal court in Nashville on Friday evening. His arraignment was set for 13 June, when he will enter a plea, according to local media reports. Until then, he will remain in federal custody. In a statement to the Hill on Friday, Ábrego García's lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg accused the Trump administration of having 'disappeared' his client 'to a foreign prison in violation of a court order'. 'Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him,' he added. Sandoval-Moshenberg also said: 'This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished – not after.' Sandoval-Moshenberg said the White House's treatment of his client was 'an abuse of power, not justice'. He called on Ábrego García to face the same immigration judge who had previously granted him a federal protection order against deportation to El Salvador 'to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent' there. That, Sandoval-Moshenberg argued, 'is the ordinary manner of doing things' – and he said that is what the US supreme court had ordered in April. Bondi on Friday maintained that federal grand jurors found that Ábrego García 'has played a significant role' in an abusive smuggling ring that had operated for nearly a decade. The attorney general added that if convicted, Ábrego García would be deported to El Salvador after completing his sentence in the US. Officials on Friday portrayed the indictment of Ábrego García by a grand jury in Tennessee as vindication of their approach to immigration enforcement. 'The man has a horrible past and I could see a decision being made, bring him back, show everybody how horrible this guy is,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that it had been the justice department that decided to bring Ábrego García back. According to the indictment, Ábrego García worked with at least five co-conspirators to bring immigrants to the United States illegally, and then transported them from the US-Mexico border to other destinations in the country. Ábrego García often picked up immigrants in Houston, and made more than 100 trips between Texas and Maryland from 2016 to 2025, the indictment says. The indictment also alleges Ábrego García transported firearms and drugs. According to the indictment, one of his co-conspirators belonging to the same ring was involved in the transportation of immigrants whose tractor-trailer overturned in Mexico in 2021, resulting in 50 deaths. Sandoval-Moshenberg called the criminal charges 'fantastical' and a 'kitchen sink' of allegations. 'This is all based on the statements of individuals who are currently either facing prosecution or in federal prison,' he said. 'I want to know what they offered those people.' Ábrego García entered the US without permission around 2011 while fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. Despite the judicial order meant to prevent his deportation to El Salvador, on 15 March, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials deported him to El Salvador after arresting him in Maryland. He was held in the so-called Center for Terrorism Confinement, a controversial mega-prison better known as Cecot. The Trump administration subsequently admitted that Ábrego García's deportation was an 'administrative error'. But it has repeatedly cast him as a MS-13 gang member on television – a claim which his wife, a US citizen, and his attorneys staunchly reject. Ábrego García also had no criminal record in the US before the indictment announced on Friday, according to court documents. On 4 April, federal judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to 'facilitate and effectuate' Ábrego García's return from El Salvador after his family filed a lawsuit in response to his deportation. The supreme court unanimously upheld Xinis's order a week later. In an unsigned decision, the court said that Xinis's decision 'properly requires the government to 'facilitate' Ábrego García's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador'. A Friday statement from the US senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the Trump administration had 'finally relented' to his demand to afford Ábrego due process. 'This is not about the man,' said Van Hollen, who visited Ábrego García in El Salvador in April. 'It's about his constitutional rights – and the rights of all.' Bukele wrote on X, in part, that he would not refuse the Trump administration's request for 'the return of a gang member to face charges'. Reuters contributed to this report
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First Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
Maryland man Kilmar Ábrego García returns to US from El Salvador to face criminal charges. But there's a catch
Maryland's Kilmar Ábrego García, the man who was 'mistakenly' deported by US President Donald Trump's administration to El Salvador in March, returned to the US only to face further criminal charges. read more Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025. File image/ Reuters The man who was mistakenly deported from Maryland to El Salvador by US President Donald Trump's administration in March returned to the United States on Friday, only to face criminal charges. In a press briefing on Friday, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, announced that a federal grand jury in Tennessee indicted 29-year-old on counts of illegally smuggling undocumented people as well as of conspiracy to commit that crime. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant, and they agreed to return him to our country,' Bondi said of Ábrego García during the presser. She went on to thank Salvadorian president, Nayib Bukele, 'for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges'. 'This is what American justice looks like upon completion of his sentence,' Bondi added. Meanwhile, in a statement to The Hill on Friday, Ábrego García's lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, accused the Trump administration of 'disappearing his client to a foreign prison,' calling it a 'violation of a court order. 'Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him,' he added. 'This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished, not after,' the lawyer explained. Sandoval-Moshenberg argued that the White House's treatment of his client was 'an abuse of power, not justice'. What are the two sides saying? Sandoval-Moshenber called on Ábrego García to face the same immigration judge who had granted him federal protection in the past against the order of the administration to deport him to El Salvador. He said that it should be done 'to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent there". He also mentioned the fact that this is what 'the US Supreme Court ordered back in April. Meanwhile, Bondi on Friday noted that federal grand jurors found that Ábrego García 'has played a significant role' in an abusive smuggling ring that had operated for nearly a decade. The attorney mentioned that if convicted, Ábrego García would be deported to El Salvador after completing his sentence in the US. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It is pertinent to note that, as per the record filed in the court, Ábrego García entered the US without permission in about 2011 while fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. Despite a judicial order that provided him protection from being deported, on 15 March, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials deported him to El Salvador after arresting him in Maryland. He was held in the so-called Centre for Terrorism Confinement, a controversial mega-prison better known as Cecot . It is important to note that Ábrego García had no criminal record in the US before the indictment was announced on Friday, according to court documents. Not only this, but the Trump administration subsequently admitted that Ábrego García's deportation was an ' administrative error '. However, he was repeatedly painted as an MS-13 gang member on television – a claim which his wife, a US citizen, and his attorneys staunchly reject. With inputs from agencies.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US brings man mistakenly deported to El Salvador back to face charges
Kilmar Ábrego García, a 29-year-old from El Salvador who was mistakenly deported in March, has been returned to the US to face prosecution on two federal criminal charges. He has been accused of participating in a trafficking conspiracy over several years to move people from Texas to other parts of the country. El Salvador agreed to release Mr Ábrego García after the US presented it with an arrest warrant, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Friday. His lawyer has called the charges "preposterous". The White House had been resisting a US Supreme Court order from April to "facilitate" his return after he was sent to a mega-jail in El Salvador alongside more than 250 other deportees. In a two-count grand jury indictment, sealed by a Tennessee court last month, Mr Ábrego García was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and a second count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. Bondi said the grand jury found that Mr Ábrego García had played a "significant role" in an alien smuggling ring - bringing in thousands of illegal immigrants to the US. The indictment additionally alleges he transported members of MS-13, designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US. The Trump administration had previously alleged Mr Ábrego García was a member of the transnational Salvadorian gang, which he has denied. Bondi also accused Mr Ábrego García of trafficking weapons and narcotics into the US for the gang. Mr Ábrego García's lawyers have previously argued that he has never been convicted of any criminal offence, including gang membership, in the US or in El Salvador. Simon Sandoval Moshenberg, one of his attorneys, called the charges "preposterous" and the events an "abuse of power" at a Friday news conference. Mr Ábrego García entered the US illegally as a teenager from El Salvador. In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities. But an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from local gangs in his home country What is the 1798 law that Trump used to deport migrants? What we know about Kilmar Abrego Garcia and MS-13 allegations On 15 March, he was deported amid an immigration crackdown form the Trump administration, after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a war-time law that allows presidents to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy country. Mr Ábrego García was taken to the notorious mega-prison Cecot in El Salvador, known for its brutal conditions. While government lawyers initially said he was taken there as a result of "administrative error", the Trump administration refused to order his return. Whether or not the government had to "facilitate" his return to his home in the US state of Maryland became the subject of a weeks-long legal and political battle. After Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen demanded to see Mr Ábrego García in El Salvador, he was released to a different prison in that country. El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a close ally of Trump, said on social media on Friday that if the administration "request the return of a gang member to face charges, of course we wouldn't refuse". Mr Ábrego García is expected to make an initial appearance at a Tennessee court on Friday, where US will request he be held in pretrial custody "because he poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight", according to the detention motion.
Business Mayor
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
Trump administration invokes state secrets privilege in Kilmar Ábrego García case
The Trump administration is invoking the 'state secrets privilege ' in an apparent attempt to avoid answering a judge's questions about its erroneous deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García to El Salvador. US district judge Paula Xinis disclosed the government's position in a two-page order on Wednesday. She set a Monday deadline for attorneys to file briefs on the issue and how it could affect Ábrego García's case. Xinis also scheduled a 16 May hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, to address the matter. The Republican administration previously invoked the same legal authority to cut off a judge's inquiry into whether it defied an order to turn around planes deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador. Ábrego García, 29, has been imprisoned in his native El Salvador for nearly two months. His mistaken deportation has become a flash point for Donald Trump's immigration policies and his increasing friction with the US courts. Trump has said he could call El Salvador's president and have Ábrego García, who was living in Maryland, returned to the United States. Instead, Trump has doubled down on his claims that Ábrego García is a member of the MS-13 gang. Police in Maryland had identified Ábrego García as an MS-13 gang member in 2019 based off his tattoos, Chicago Bulls hoodie and the word of a criminal informant. But Ábrego García was never charged. His lawyers say the informant claimed Ábrego García was in an MS-13 chapter in New York, where Ábrego García has never lived. The administration has balked at telling Xinis what, if anything, it has done to facilitate Ábrego García's return to the US. The judge ruled that his lawyers can question several Trump administration officials under oath about the government's response to her orders. In a court filing on Wednesday, his lawyers said they already have conducted depositions of three officials and are 'still in the dark' about the government's efforts to free Ábrego García. They are asking for permission to depose more officials, possibly including one from the White House.
