‘Gang member’ Abrego Garcia back in US to face migrant-smuggling raps
WASHINGTON—Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged gang member deported from Maryland back to his country El Salvador, was flown back to the United States to face criminal charges of transporting illegal immigrants in the United States, attorney general Pam Bondi said on Friday.
Abrego Garcia’s return marked an inflection point in a case seized on by critics of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown as a sign that the administration was disregarding civil liberties in its push to step up deportations.
Abrego Garcia—a 29-year-old El Salvadoran who illegally entered the United States in 2011 and whose wife and young child in Maryland are US citizens—appeared in federal court in Nashville on Friday evening.
His arraignment was set for June 13, when he will enter a plea, according to local media reports. Until then, he will remain in federal custody.
If convicted, he would be deported to El Salvador after serving his sentence, Bondi said.
The Trump administration has said that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation that his lawyers deny.
‘Horrible past’
Officials on Friday portrayed the indictment of Abrego Garcia by a federal grand jury in Tennessee as vindication of their approach to immigration enforcement.
“The man has a horrible past, and I could see a decision being made, bring him back, show everybody how horrible this guy is,” President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Apart from the human trafficking charges, his wife had accused Abrego Garcia of twice beating her although she refused to pursue the charges.
Trump said that it was the Justice Department that decided to bring back Abrego Garcia.
According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia worked with at least five coconspirators as part of a smuggling ring to bring immigrants to the United States illegally, then transport them from the US-Mexico border to destinations in the country.
Abrego Garcia often picked up migrants in Houston, making more than 100 trips between Texas and Maryland between 2016 and 2025, the indictment alleges.
Children, too
Among those allegedly trafficked by Abrego Garcia were children.
“He traded the innocence of minor children for profit,” Bondi said, according to a Fox News report.
The indictment also accuses Abrego Garcia of transporting firearms and drugs.
A 2022 body cam footage from the Tennessee Highway Patrol shows law enforcers stopping Abrego Garcia while “hauling” suspected illegal migrants.
According to the indictment, one of Abrego Garcia’s coconspirators belonging to the same ring was involved in the transportation of migrants whose tractor trailer overturned in Mexico in 2021, resulting in 50 deaths.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, called the criminal charges “fantastical” and a “kitchen sink” of allegations.
“This is all based on the statements of individuals who are currently either facing prosecution or in federal prison,” he said. “I want to know what they offered those people.”
Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15, more than two months before the charges were filed.
