Washington — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who the Trump administration admitted was mistakenly deported again to his residence nation, has been returned to the U.S. to face two federal prison counts that had been detailed in an indictment unsealed on Friday.
Filed within the federal district court docket in Nashville, the indictment prices Abrego Garcia with one depend of conspiracy to move aliens and one depend of illegal transportation of undocumented aliens. Abrego Garcia was faraway from the U.S. in March and flown to El Salvador, the place he was initially held at a infamous supermax jail.
Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi stated in remarks on the Justice Division that the Salvadoran authorities agreed to return Abrego Garcia to face the prison prices after it was offered with an arrest warrant.
“Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice,” Bondi stated, including “this is what American justice looks like.”
A federal grand jury returned the indictment on Might 21. The Justice Division stated in a court docket submitting that Abrego Garcia needs to be held in pretrial custody as a result of “he poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight, and no condition or combination of conditions would ensure the safety of the community or his appearance in court.”
Bondi stated that the grand jury discovered that Abrego Garcia “played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring” that concerned kids and girls and is “a danger to our community.” If Abrego Garcia is convicted, he would serve his sentence within the U.S. after which return to El Salvador, based on the legal professional basic.
In her remarks, Bondi strayed past what was alleged within the indictment, claiming that Abrego Garcia performed a task within the homicide of a rival gang member’s mom and solicited bare footage from a minor. Neither of these allegations seem within the charging paperwork.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s legal professional, stated in an announcement that due course of “means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice.” He stated the federal 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.”
The indictment
A protester holds a photograph of Kilmar Abrego Garcia on April 24, 2025, in New York Metropolis.
Michael M. Santiago / Getty Pictures
The submitting alleges that between 2016 and 2025, Abrego Garcia and others conspired to convey migrants from Latin American nations to the U.S., passing by way of Mexico earlier than crossing the southern border into Texas.
Prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia and an unidentified co-conspirator picked up the migrants in Houston and transported them to different elements of the U.S., and devised “cover stories” to present to legislation enforcement within the occasion they had been stopped — like transporting folks for building work.
The Justice Division stated that Abrego Garcia and 6 co-conspirators used cellphones and social media platforms to maneuver migrants into and all through the U.S. He allegedly labored with two of the co-conspirators to move firearms that had been bought illegally in Texas for distribution and resale in Maryland, the place Abrego Garcia lived.
Abrego Garcia and the six others additionally allegedly collected monetary funds from migrants for his or her actions, based on the indictment. That cash was then transferred between each other, the Justice Division stated, claiming it was an effort to cover their origins.
The indictment claims that Abrego Garcia and his co-conspirators “knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands” of migrants who weren’t legally approved to reside or work within the U.S., and alleges that a lot of these folks had been members of the gang MS-13 and associates.
The submitting contains details about a November 2022 visitors cease in Tennessee, when Abrego Garcia was pulled over by the state Freeway Patrol for dashing. The company launched physique digital camera footage from the incident.
Abrego Garcia had no less than eight folks within the automotive with him when he was stopped. He stated that they’d been performing building work at a web site in St. Louis, Missouri. An April report from the Division of Homeland Safety in regards to the incident stated Aberego Garcia was suspected of human trafficking, although he was not arrested or charged with any crime.
Abrego Garcia’s deportation
Abrego Garcia’s case sparked nationwide backlash after an immigration official within the Trump administration acknowledged that his deportation to El Salvador was an “administrative error.” The 29-year-old had been granted a authorized standing in 2019, often known as withholding of elimination, that forbade the Division of Homeland Safety from eradicating him to his residence nation of El Salvador as a result of he was more likely to face persecution by native gangs.
Abrego Garcia was among the many greater than 200 individuals who had been boarded onto planes sure for El Salvador in mid-March for confinement within the nation’s infamous maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Heart, often known as CECOT. The removals had been a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on unlawful immigration, which have prompted quite a few authorized battles throughout the nation.
Abrego Garcia, who had lived in Maryland since he got here to the U.S. unlawfully in 2011, was initially held at CECOT however finally moved to a lower-security facility, based on Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who met with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador in April. The State Division later confirmed he had been transferred.
Van Hollen on Friday stated that the Trump administration has for months been flouting the Supreme Court docket and the Structure.
“Today, they appear to have finally relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and with the due process rights afforded to everyone in the United States,” he stated in an announcement. “As I have repeatedly said, this is not about the man, it’s about his constitutional rights — and the rights of all. The administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along.”
Abrego Garcia’s case, and U.S. District Decide Paula Xinis’ orders for the federal government to take steps to convey him again to the U.S. was the catalyst for an escalating conflict between the Trump administration and the courts that has performed out over the previous few weeks. The federal government was accused of defying Xinis’ demand that it facilitate his launch from Salvadoran custody — which was affirmed by the Supreme Court docket — and refusing to offer any particulars about what efforts it had taken to take action.
The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia is a member of the gang MS-13, citing an allegation from a confidential informant and the garments he was sporting when he was arrested in 2019, after which he was launched from custody. His attorneys have denied Abrego Garcia has any ties to MS-13, and stated he has by no means been charged or convicted of a criminal offense within the U.S. or El Salvador.
Authorized battle goes to Supreme Court docket
Three courts — the district court docket on which Xinis sits, a federal appeals court docket and the Supreme Court docket — all stated the Trump administration needed to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s launch from Salvadoran custody. The Supreme Court docket additionally directed the federal government to make sure that his case “is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
However attorneys for Abrego Garcia stated the administration has defied these selections by repeatedly refusing to take steps to convey him again to the U.S. or present any details about whether or not it has even made makes an attempt to take action.
In response, Xinis ordered an expedited examination into the Trump administration’s refusal to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. and allowed his attorneys to pose 15 inquiries to authorities officers and make 15 requests for paperwork.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys advised Xinis that the Trump administration turned over “nothing of substance” and offered “non-responsive” solutions to their questions. The choose then blasted the administration for its responses and blamed it for “continued mischaracterization” of the Supreme Court docket’s order. She stated their objection to sure requests for info “reflects a willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations.”
Concerning the administration’s makes an attempt to invoke sure privileges to defend sure particulars from Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, the choose stated they depend on “boilerplate assertions.”
“That ends now,” Xinis wrote.
