A man who was wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador under the Trump administration has been brought back to the US to face allegations of transporting illegal immigrants.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States from El Salvador and charged with trafficking undocumented migrants, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Mr. Abrego Garcia’s return marks a pivotal moment in a case highlighted by critics of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies as evidence that the administration was neglecting civil liberties in its efforts to increase deportations.
The 29-year-old Salvadoran, whose wife and young child in Maryland are US citizens, appeared in federal court in Nashville yesterday evening.
If found guilty, he would be deported to El Salvador after serving his sentence, Ms. Bondi stated. The Trump administration claims that Mr. Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, an allegation his lawyers reject.
Officials have depicted the federal grand jury indictment of Mr. Abrego Garcia in Tennessee as a confirmation of their immigration enforcement strategy.
“This man has a terrible history, and I can see a decision being made to bring him back, demonstrating how dreadful he is,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, noting that it was the Justice Department’s decision to return Mr. Abrego Garcia.
According to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, if convicted, Abrego Garcia would be deported to El Salvador after serving his prison term.
Per the indictment, Mr. Abrego Garcia collaborated with at least five co-conspirators as part of a smuggling operation to bring immigrants into the United States illegally and then transport them to various locations across the country from the US-Mexico border.
Mr. Abrego Garcia reportedly picked up migrants in Houston, making over 100 trips between Texas and Maryland from 2016 to 2025, as stated in the indictment.
The charges also allege that he engaged in transporting firearms and drugs.
Additionally, the indictment claims that one of Mr. Abrego Garcia’s co-conspirators was involved in transporting migrants whose tractor trailer crashed in Mexico in 2021, leading to 50 fatalities.
Mr. Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, characterized the criminal charges as “fantastical” and referred to them as a “kitchen sink” of accusations.
“This is all based on testimonies from individuals currently facing prosecution or serving time in federal prison,” he said. “I want to learn what they were offered.”
The indictment also triggered a high-profile resignation in the federal prosecutor’s office in Nashville, as news emerged that Ben Schrader, the chief of the criminal division for the Middle District of Tennessee, had resigned in protest.
A veteran of the US Attorney’s Office for 15 years, Mr. Schrader had become increasingly uneasy with the administration’s actions, and the indictment of Mr. Abrego Garcia was deemed “the final straw,” according to a source familiar with the situation. Mr. Schrader declined to comment.
He had announced his resignation on LinkedIn last month, coinciding with the filing of the indictment under seal, but did not provide a reason.
Mr. Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15, over two months prior to the charges being filed. He was briefly held in a large facility known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, despite a US immigration judge’s 2019 ruling that barred his deportation to El Salvador due to the risk of gang persecution.
Ms. Bondi mentioned that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele had consented to Mr. Abrego Garcia’s return after US officials presented his government with an arrest warrant.
“The grand jury determined that over the last nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling operation,” she stated at a press conference.
In a court filing yesterday, federal prosecutors requested a judge to keep Mr. Abrego Garcia in custody until trial.
Citing an unnamed co-conspirator, prosecutors alleged that Mr. Abrego Garcia joined MS-13 in El Salvador after murdering the mother of a rival gang member. The indictment does not charge him with murder.
Prosecutors indicated that Mr. Abrego Garcia could face up to ten years in prison for each migrant he is convicted of transporting, a potential sentence that could result in life imprisonment.
