Kilmar Ábrego García, the Salvadoran who was wrongfully deported to his country of origin by the Trump administration, has returned to the United States to face criminal charges, confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday, June 6.
Kilmar Ábrego García, the Salvadoran migrant deported due to a “administrative error” by the U.S. government, was returned to the American country, where he will face charges for alleged migrant trafficking, confirmed Attorney Pam Bondi in a press conference on Friday.
His return takes place after the White House insisted that it did not have the authority to return the man to the country, despite both the Supreme Court and lower courts ordering the government to facilitate his return.
Abrego had a legal status in the United States that protected him from deportation.
when he was detained by immigration authorities and later sent on a flight to a maximum security prison in his home country of El Salvador last March.
In a statement, Abrego García’s lawyer, Andrew Rossman, stated that it will now depend on the United States judicial system to ensure that he receives due process.
“The action today demonstrates what we knew from the beginning: that the Administration had the capability to bring it back and simply refused to do so,” said Rossman, a partner at the law firm Quinn Emanuel.
Abrego García was deported to El Salvador, despite a 2019 immigration judge’s order granting him protection against deportation to El Salvador after finding that he would likely be persecuted by gangs if he returned there, according to court records.
Ábrego will be tried for human trafficking
The Attorney General of the United States, Pamela Bondi, explained at a press conference that Ábrego García will face charges for human trafficking, including members of gangs, and will then be returned to El Salvador.
Ábrego García has landed in the United States,” but he did so to “face justice.
after a grand jury in Tennessee indicted him for migrant or foreign trafficking and conspiracy to traffic people.
The trafficking charges against Ábrego García were filed on May 21, more than two months after the deportation, according to court records.
For his return, the administration of President Donald Trump issued an arrest warrant to the Salvadoran government, Bondi indicated.
“We are very grateful to President Nayib (Bukele) for accepting his return to our country to face these very serious accusations. This is how US justice works. Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate that he will be returned to his country of origin, El Salvador,” he warned.
According to the prosecutor, over the last nine years, Ábrego García “played a significant role” in a human trafficking network, where he had “a full-time job” and trafficked “thousands of migrants” to the United States.
The Salvadoran, asserted, “he was a human trafficker, dealing with children and women, and made over 100 trips. The grand jury found that he trafficked people across the country, including members of MS-13, a violent gang, members of a terrorist organization.”
He also linked it to a trailer accident in San Antonio, Texas, involving more than 50 migrants that overturned near the Mexico border.
Moments after announcing the return of the migrant, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, reaffirmed on X his commitment to cooperation with the Trump administration.
As I said in the Oval Office: 1. I would never smuggle a terrorist into the United States. 2. I would never release a gang member onto the streets of El Salvador. That said, we collaborated with the Trump administration, and if they request the return of a gang member to face charges, of course we would not refuse. No more gang members under custody.
On its part, the White House celebrated Abrego’s return to the country as it allows him to face the full weight of American Justice.
The presidential spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, pointed out:
The Trump administration will continue to hold criminals accountable with the full weight of the law.
Meanwhile, Stephen Miller, one of the main advisors to the Republican leader, considered on X that Ábrego García was “properly deported” and later accused “following new evidence of especially atrocious crimes.”
The advisor also confirmed that after the eventual conviction, he will return to his home country.