The Trump administration announced Friday that Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been returned to the United States to face prosecution for human trafficking.
The charges relate to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, when the illegal alien was driving an SUV full of passengers.
Abrego Garcia claimed that the passengers were construction workers bound for Maryland from Texas. The Homeland Security Investigations Baltimore field office, however, had flagged the SUV as belonging to a man suspected of smuggling or human trafficking.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters Friday, “Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice. On May 21, a grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee returned a sealed indictment, charging Abrego Garcia with alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling.”
BREAKING: @FoxNews has obtained the DOJ indictment of “Maryland man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia, charging him with 8 USC 1324 (federal human trafficking), alleging he smuggled illegal aliens in the U.S. from 2016-2015 as part of MS-13. It was filed on 5/21 and was just unsealed. pic.twitter.com/pFtlTrKnDj
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 6, 2025
Bondi thanked El Salvador President Nayib Bukele for agreeing to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. to face “very serious charges.”
“Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador,” she concluded.
AG Bondi: “Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice. He will face very serious charges. Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador.” pic.twitter.com/PFCwfiaZHt
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 6, 2025
Do you think Abrego Garcia should be permanently deported?
Last month, when a CBS News reporter asked if the Trump administration was seeking the return of Abrego Garcia to comply with a court order, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller responded that “the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge.”
Democrat lawmakers, including Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, have argued that Abrego Garcia was unlawfully removed from the U.S. by the Trump administration.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador in April to meet with Abrego Garcia and call for his return.
Democrat lawmakers’ demands for the illegal alien’s return became more muted when significant evidence surfaced that he is an MS-13 member, engaged in human trafficking, and battered his wife.
Nonetheless, Van Hollen welcomed the news Friday of Abrego Garcia’s return, distancing himself from the particular facts regarding the case, instead saying it is about upholding due process rights.
After months of ignoring our Constitution, it seems the Trump Admin has relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and due process for Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
This has never been about the man—it’s about his constitutional rights & the rights of all.
Full statement: pic.twitter.com/q28RLNEj2S
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) June 6, 2025
He stated, “After months of ignoring our Constitution, it seems the Trump Admin has relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and due process for Kilmar Abrego Garcia.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg was not pleased that his client faces human trafficking charges.
“The government disappeared Kilmar 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, Sandoval-Moshenberg told The Hill.
“This is an abuse of power, not justice,” he added. “The government should put him on trial, yes — but in front of the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, which is the ordinary manner of doing things, ‘to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,’ as the Supreme Court ordered.”
In April, the Supreme Court directed the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, which Bondi interpreted to mean provide a plane, in the event the El Salvadoran government decided to release him.
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