After being wrongfully deported to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia is now facing US charges for transporting undocumented immigrants.
A man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador during the Donald Trump administration has been returned to the United States, where he is set to face criminal charges.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, is a Salvadoran immigrant who lived in Maryland for nearly half his life before his deportation in March. He is now facing accusations of transporting undocumented migrants within the US, according to recently released court documents.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi stated on Friday that Abrego Garcia was brought back to the US to “face justice.”
The charges against him were filed on May 21, more than two months after he was deported, despite a court order that prevented his removal.
The allegations stem from a 2022 traffic stop conducted by the Tennessee Highway Patrol, which suspected Abrego Garcia of human trafficking; however, he was only given a warning for an expired driver’s license, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.
Bondi said during a press conference that a grand jury determined that Abrego Garcia has significantly contributed to an alien smuggling operation over the last nine years.
She added that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele agreed to return Abrego Garcia to the US after American officials presented an arrest warrant to his government.
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador as part of a Trump initiative to send undocumented migrants, labeled as gang members, to prison in Central America without due legal process.
Bukele mentioned in a social media update that his government collaborated with the Trump administration and would not decline a request to return an alleged “gang member” to the US.
Deportation ‘a separate legal issue’
Al Jazeera reporter Rosiland Jordan, speaking from Washington, DC, noted that if convicted, Abrego Garcia could face up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
However, she added that this does not address the separate issue of whether he should be deported. “That is a different legal matter,” she stated.
Abrego Garcia will be allowed to enter a plea in court and challenge the charges in a trial. If he is found guilty, Bondi indicated that he would be deported to El Salvador after completing his sentence.
In a statement, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Andrew Rossman, emphasized that it is now the responsibility of the US judicial system to ensure he receives fair treatment.
“Today’s developments confirm what we’ve known all along – that the administration had the means to bring him back but chose not to,” commented Rossman, a partner at the law firm Quinn Emanuel.
Abrego Garcia’s deportation went against an immigration judge’s 2019 ruling that granted him protection from being sent back to El Salvador, where he was deemed likely to face gang persecution, court records reveal.
Critics of Trump highlighted the wrongful deportation as evidence of the extreme measures taken by his administration to increase deportations.
Officials claimed that Abrego Garcia was associated with the MS-13 gang, while his legal representation denied such claims and stated he had never been convicted of a crime.
Abrego Garcia’s situation has become a focal point for rising tensions between the executive branch and the judiciary, which has challenged several of Trump’s policies.
The US Supreme Court mandated that the Trump administration facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, known for her liberal stance, stating that the government provided no justification for what she termed his “warrantless arrest.”
US District Judge Paula Xinis also launched an investigation into what actions, if any, the Trump administration took to ensure his return, following allegations from his lawyers that officials were obstructing their information requests.
