Kilmar Abrego Garcia, mistakenly deported to El Salvador, to US to face migrant transport charges
Washington: The man mistakenly deported from Maryland to El Salvador by the Trump administration, has returned to the United States to face criminal charges of transporting illegal immigrants within the US, Attorney-General Pam Bondi said.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s case has become a flash point for escalating tensions between the presidency and the judiciary, which has blocked a number of Trump’s signature policies. The US Supreme Court had ordered the Trump administration to facilitate Garcia’s return, with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying the government had cited no basis for what she called his “warrantless arrest”.
A man identified by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is led by force by guards through the Terrorism Confinement Centre in Tecoluca, El Salvador in an undated photo.Credit: US District Court for the District of Maryland via AP
The return marks a turning point in a case that became a broader symbol of criticisms of US President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies. Critics, including many congressional Democrats, pointed to it as a sign that the administration was disregarding civil liberties in its push to step up deportations.
But the administration insisted that Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation that his lawyers denied. It later said it had sent the man accidentally and couldn’t bring him back.
On Saturday (AEST), administration officials portrayed his indictment by a grand jury in Tennessee as vindication of their approach – even though the charges were filed on May 21, more than two months after his March 15 deportation.
An undated photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.Credit: CASA via AP
At a press conference, Bondi said Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele agreed to return Garcia to the after US officials presented his government with an arrest warrant.
“The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring,” Bondi said at a press conference.
Garcia will have the chance to enter a plea in court and contest the charges at trial. If he is convicted, he would be deported to El Salvador after serving his sentence, Bondi said.
