Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Friday that the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador has been returned to the United States and is facing human smuggling charges.
During a press conference, Bondi stated that Abrego Garcia had been named in an indictment alleging that he transported illegal immigrants within the country. “On May 21st, a grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee returned a sealed indictment charging A Brego Garcia with alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, in violation of Title 8 U.S.C. §1324,” Bondi said.
She further explained that the Trump administration “presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant, and they agreed to return him to our country” and that “upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate that he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador.”
The attorney general outlined the allegations against Abrego Garcia, noting that a grand jury “found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring.”
“This was not a side job—this was his full-time occupation,” Bondi continued. “He was a human smuggler—of men, women, and children.”
Abrego Garcia entered the country illegally in 2011 at the age of 16. He told a judge he was fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. He later settled in Maryland and lived with his older brother, who is an American citizen.
An immigration judge in 2019 granted him a withholding of removal status because of credible threats against his life. This allowed him to live and work in the US.
In March, immigration authorities deported him without seeking to lift the withholding of removal order. The Supreme Court ruled that the deportation was unlawful and ordered the Trump administration to retrieve him from El Salvador.
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“The grand jury found he made over 100 trips, smuggling people throughout the United States,” Bondi said. “These included MS-13 members, violent gang members, and individuals affiliated with terrorist organizations. Thousands of illegal aliens were smuggled.”
She further claimed Abrego Garcia “is part of the same smuggling ring responsible for the deaths of more than 50 migrants in 2021, when a tractor-trailer overturned in Mexico.”
Those who collaborated in the smuggling ring told the authorities “abused undocumented alien females while transporting them across the country, keeping them under his control.” They also claimed Abrego Garcia “solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor” and “played a role in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother.”
BREAKING: @AGPamBondi announces human trafficking charges against deportee Kilmar Abrego Garcia pic.twitter.com/unZ19nBfsJ
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 6, 2025
Abrego Garcia is only being charged for transporting illegal immigrants — some of which are alleged MS-13 gang members — within the United States, NBC News reported.
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