Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in the U.S. to face criminal charges : NPR

Jennifer Vasquez Sura speaks during an April 4 news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., after her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

Jose Luis Magana/AP

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Jose Luis Magana/AP

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man at the center of a bitter, months-long political and legal fight after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, has been returned to the United States to face charges of transporting migrants who were in the country illegally, according to an indictment announced Friday.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his return at a short press conference Friday afternoon at the Department of Justice.

“This is what American justice looks like,” Bondi said.

She thanked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for agreeing to send Abrego Garcia back.

Bondi told reporters that a federal grand jury indicted Abrego Garcia on May 21 in Tennessee over allegations he conspired to transport thousands of migrants without legal status from Texas across the U.S. between 2016-2025. The two-count indictment accuses Abrego Garcia “of conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain” and “unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.”

Bondi says Abrego Garcia will face trial in the U.S. on these charges and, if found guilty, will serve time in a U.S. prison before being deported back to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney said they’re going to keep fighting to get him a fair trial. “Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him. This shows that they were playing games with the court all along,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told NPR. “Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice.”

A Salvadoran native who had been living with his wife and children in Maryland, Abrego-Garcia was deported in March to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration defended the move, claiming he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13. His wife and attorneys deny that.

The 10-page criminal indictment unsealed today alleges that Abrego Garcia participated in more than 100 trips smuggling individuals, including unaccompanied minors and alleged members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.

Abrego Garcia’s deportation case has become a bedrock for both the Trump administration and immigration advocates as the push to streamline deportations undercuts key elements of due process.

After the announcement of Abrego Garcia’s return, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the indictment against Abrego Garcia “proves the unhinged Democrat Party was wrong, and their stenographers in the Fake News Media were once again played like fools,” adding that the administration would “continue to hold criminals accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

It’s been nearly three months since the father of three children was pulled over in his car by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and ended up imprisoned in El Salvador. Abrego Garcia was arrested on March 12 on his way home from work in Baltimore. He was deported a few days later, along with more than 230 other immigrants, and housed at CECOT. By April 20, according to court documents, Abrego Garcia was moved to a lower security Salvadoran prison.

The Trump administration was quick to admit that it had deported Abrego Garcia due to an “administrative error.” Abrego Garcia, who had arrived unlawfully in the U.S., when he was a teenager, had received protection from removal to El Salvador in 2019 by an immigration judge. That protection, known as withholding of removal, had never been challenged by government officials.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland has overseen the months-long legal case over the deportation of Abrego Garcia. Xinis, an Obama-appointed judge, last month ordered the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. The Justice Department repeatedly invoked the state secrets privilege in federal court to withhold information related to the first three flights to El Salvador, one of which Abrego Garcia was on.

On April 10, in a 9-0 ruling U.S. Supreme Court that the government “must facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia. Still, the administration slow-walked the issue.

Trump officials had remained adamant since the Supreme Court ruling that Abrego Garcia would “never” return to the U.S.

Meanwhile, Salvadoran President Bukele also said he would not release Abrego Garcia. Notably, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., traveled to El Salvador in late April to seek Abrego Garcia’s release. Several other Democrats made their own trips, arguing that the Trump administration was violating due process.

Federal prosecutors have requested that Abrego Garcia be held in “pre-trial custody because he poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight.”