Kilmar Abrego Garcia is sent back to us, facing charges of transporting illegal immigrants
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who mistakenly deported from El Salvador, became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s strengthened immigration enforcement, is being sent back to the United States to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration says is a massive human smuggling operation that brings immigrants into the country.
Officials said Friday that he is expected to be prosecuted in the United States and will return him to El Salvador’s homeland at the end of the case, if convicted.
“This is what American justice looks like,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday in announcing Abrego Garcia and criminal charges.
The allegations stem from a 2022 vehicle stop, with Tennessee Highway Patrol alleged trafficking by Abrego Garcia. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April pointed out that no one in the vehicle had luggage, and they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia.
According to the DHS report, Abrego Garcia has never been charged with a crime and officials have allowed him to continue warning of expired driver’s licenses. The report said he is traveling from Texas to Maryland and passing through Missouri to attract people to work in construction.
In response to the report’s release in April, Abrego Garcia’s wife said in a statement that he sometimes transported a group of workers between work sites, “so he was pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle.
Despite the lack of corresponding criminal charges, the Trump administration has been promoting Abrego Garcia’s interaction with police for years
Lawyer said Abrego Garcia deserved the day.
Tennessee authorities released videos of traffic parking in 2022 last month. The body camera footage shows calm and friendly exchanges between officers between the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Officials then discussed their suspicions of human trafficking with each other because nine people traveled without luggage. “He was dragging these people to make money,” said one of the officials. Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope for the United States.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, said in a statement after the video was released that he did not see any evidence of the crime in the video released.
“But the key is not traffic – what stops is the day Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves in court,” said Sandoval-Moshenberg.
The move comes days after the Trump administration complied with court orders to return to Guatemala a man was deported to Mexico, despite fears of being hurt there.
The man, identified as an OCG in court documents, was the first known person to be deported since the start of his second term of U.S. President Donald Trump.
