Abrego Garcia faces smuggling charges his lawyer calls “fantastical,” in a case reflecting tensions between the Trump administration and the courts.
Deported in error by President Donald Trump’s administration, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in the United States to stand trial on smuggling charges.
He appeared in federal court in Nashville on Friday evening.
The indictment was filed on May 21, US Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed at a press conference, over two months after Abrego Garcia had been deported to El Salvador.
Garcia’s deportation in March sparked protests in the US amid anger over the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to tackling undocumented migrants in the country.
The US Supreme Court in April ordered Trump to facilitate the 29-year-old’s return after Washington admitted to an “administrative error” that led to his deportation.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer call case ‘baseless’
After Abrego Garcia had been deported to El Salvador, the White House continued to insist that he was a member of the international criminal gang MS-13 and refused to facilitate his return, until now.
According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia was involved in smuggling undocumented migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries into the United States between 2016 and earlier this year.
On Friday, Attorney General Bondi alleged that Abrego Garcia had “played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring” and was a smuggler of “children and women” as well as members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.
His arraignment is set for June 13, when he will enter a plea, according to local media reports. Until then, he will remain in federal custody.
“The man has a horrible past, and I could see a decision being made, bring him back, show everybody how horrible this guy is,” Trump told reporters on Friday.
“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.”
He added the Trump administration had returned him to the US “not to correct their error but to prosecute him.”
“Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “This is an abuse of power, not justice.”
Bondi said if convicted, Abrego Garcia would be deported to El Salvador after completing his sentence in the US.
Tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary
Abrego Garcia entered the US without permission around 2011 while fleeing gang violence in El Salvador
He and his wife, a US citizen, are raising three children.
His case has become a symbol of escalating tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary.
He was deported to his home country amid a Trump administration crackdown on migration despite a 2019 judge’s order that granted him protection from deportation.
He was deported in March and held at the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador, known for its brutal conditions.
“There was a lot of pressure on the US and US President Donald Trump to bring this man back…if he is [convicted], they will say they ‘we were right in the first place to deport him,'” DW’s US correspondent Benjamin Alvarez Gruber said.
The US Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration in April to “facilitate” his return.
On Friday, Van Hollen said the Trump administration has “finally relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and the due process rights afforded to everyone in the United States.”
“The administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along,” Van Hollen added.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery
DW News
