Man Mistakenly Deported to El Salvador Returns to U.S. to Face Charges

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador in March, has been brought back to the United States to face criminal charges. These charges are related to the transportation of undocumented immigrants and are detailed in a federal indictment that was made public on Friday.

Abrego Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally some years ago, was deported in March despite a 2019 federal court order protecting him from being removed to El Salvador. His deportation led to widespread criticism and warnings from legal experts that it could cause a constitutional crisis. The Trump Administration had opposed multiple court orders, including one from the Supreme Court, to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.

Abrego Garcia is now in U.S. custody and faces federal criminal charges. According to the 10-page indictment, filed in Federal District Court in Nashville, he is allegedly a member of the MS-13 gang and participated in a conspiracy to “transport thousands of undocumented aliens” across the U.S.

The Administration has asserted, without providing proof, that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13, which it has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, since his deportation.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the charges at a press conference, thanking El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for his cooperation in returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

“This is what American justice looks like,” Bondi said. “Once he has completed his sentence, we expect that he will be returned to El Salvador, his home country.”

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers told news outlets that his return on Friday demonstrated that the Trump Administration had the authority to bring him back to the U.S. They added that it is now up to the “judicial system to ensure that Mr. Abrego Garcia receives the due process guaranteed by the Constitution to all persons.”

“Today’s actions proves what we’ve known all along—that the Administration had the ability to bring him back and just refused to do so,” Andrew Rossman, a lawyer for Abrego Garcia, said in a statement to multiple outlets.

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