Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported from the U.S. by mistake. A court said the government had no legal right to remove him. But instead of correcting that error, the Trump administration brought him back — only to hit him with criminal smuggling charges.
The 29-year-old Salvadoran father returned to the U.S. this week after spending nearly three months in one of El Salvador’s most notorious prisons. His deportation had been ruled illegal by both a federal judge and the U.S. Supreme Court. But rather than restore his rights, federal prosecutors unveiled a secret indictment accusing him of running a smuggling operation tied to the violent MS-13 gang.
The two-count indictment, filed in Tennessee and unsealed Friday, accuses Abrego Garcia of transporting undocumented immigrants across the U.S. for years. Prosecutors claim he helped move thousands of people, some allegedly gang members, from Texas to other parts of the country.
“Testimony at trial will establish that the defendant transported approximately 50 undocumented aliens throughout the United States per month for several years,” prosecutors wrote.
They also say Abrego Garcia is tied to MS-13 and used that connection to expand the operation.
Federal agents now want him held in jail until trial, calling him a threat to the public and a flight risk. The indictment also includes explosive but uncharged allegations — claiming Abrego Garcia was involved in murder, child abuse, firearms trafficking, and even a child pornography investigation. No charges related to those claims have been filed.
His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, blasted the government’s move.
“The government disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order,” he said.
“Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him.”
“Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after,” he added.
The case traces back to a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, where Abrego Garcia was found driving several men without ID. He wasn’t charged at the time, but the government later used the incident as the basis for a wider investigation. Six unnamed witnesses now claim he was part of a paid smuggling network.
Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland with his wife and three children — two from a previous relationship — and working as a sheet metal apprentice. In 2019, a judge ordered the government not to deport him, citing threats he faced in El Salvador. That order was ignored. In March 2025, ICE agents arrested him and deported him to El Salvador anyway.
There, he was thrown into the country’s high-security Terrorism Confinement Center — despite having no gang ties on record at the time. He spent nearly three months behind bars before being moved to a facility for non-gang members.
In April, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the government to bring him back.
“They had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere,” she wrote.
The Supreme Court agreed. Yet the Trump administration defied both rulings, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying,
“There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again.”
Even as courts demanded answers, the administration invoked “state secrets” to avoid disclosing details about his detention and its ties to El Salvador’s government.
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who met with Abrego Garcia in prison, called the administration’s handling of the case a constitutional failure.
“As I have repeatedly said, this is not about the man, it’s about his constitutional rights — and the rights of all,” he said.
“The administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along.”
At a press conference Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the decision to charge Abrego Garcia.
“This is American justice,” she said. If convicted, she added, he will be deported back to El Salvador.
But his lawyer says what’s happening is not justice — it’s payback.
“The government should put him on trial, yes,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
“But in front of the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
