Kilmar Abrego Garcia on way back to US to face criminal charges: Sources

[scipan]

Mistakenly deported Salvadoran native Kilmar Abrego Garcia is on his way back to the United States where he will face criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S., according to sources familiar with the matter.

More than two months after the Trump administration admitted it mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia from Maryland to his native El Salvador, a federal grand jury has indicted him for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the United States, ABC News has learned.

A two-count indictment, which was filed under seal in federal court in Tennessee last month, alleges Abrego Garcia, 29, participated in a years-long conspiracy to haul undocumented migrants from Texas to the interior of the country, according to sources briefed on the indictment.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/mistakenly-deported-kilmar-abrego-garcia-back-us-face/story?id=121333122

[Nevilledog]

1. This will turn out to be bullshit.

[underpants]

2. At least he's getting a day in court.

So the “never” stuff was BS too.

[AZJonnie]

3. These are undoubtedly some trumped up charges

Too on the nose?

[In It to Win It]

4. Their ability to bullshit is legendary

The alleged conspiracy spanned nearly a decade and involved the domestic transport of thousands of non-citizens, including some children, from Mexico and Central America, according to sources.

THOUSANDS???

[suegeo]

6. He transferred thousands of people! Based on one traffic stop

And allegedly among the 1000s transported, some were gang members. Will the genius attorneys at the Trump "justice" department prove (or even name) the gang members he transported? How the fuck would they know all that based off of one traffic stop?

Do the attorneys who will prosecute this man, well do they know that Trump is a convicted felon and a rapist.

A single traffic stop, where he was issued a warning and then let go.

This is all gestapo nazi bullshit.

Kristi Noem should face crimes against humanity charges.

[Alice B.]

5. Was this dumph'ed up to give them cover to bring him back? Complying with court orders while saving face?

n/t

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. Deadline: Legal Blog-Abrego Garcia is back but contempt and sanctions for Trump admin still on the table

“The Government flouted rather than followed” court orders, Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyers reminded the judge who ordered his return

Abrego Garcia is back but contempt and sanctions for Trump admin still on the table www.msnbc.com/deadline-whi...

— Tom Jones (@earl2.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T17:29:36.117Z

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/abrego-garcia-returned-contempt-sanctions-trump-admin-still-table-rcna211782

Responding to the claim that the civil case is now moot due to his return, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers reminded the Obama appointee that she “still retains jurisdiction to find contempt and impose sanctions.”

They called the government’s claim that it has complied with her order “pure farce,” writing:

The Government flouted rather than followed the orders of this Court and the United States Supreme Court. Instead of facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return, for the past two months Defendants have engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia. In its latest act of contempt, the Government arranged for Abrego Garcia’s return, not to Maryland in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive to “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” . . . but rather to Tennessee so that he could be charged with a crime in a case that the Government only developed while it was under threat of sanctions.

Farcical is a good summary of this case and the administration’s broader immigration stance. The description pairs well with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s recent nod to Franz Kafka’s “The Trial,” in comparing the novel’s absurd legal ordeal to the administration’s summary removals of scores of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador’s mega-prison known for human rights abuses. (Litigation is pending separately in that case in Washington, D.C., as lawyers try to secure the immigrants’ return. That case also includes an attempt to hold the administration accountable for contempt, which is pending separately on the government’s appeal in D.C.’s federal appeals court.)

Urging Xinis to keep the civil case alive, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said the government’s “wanton disregard for the judicial branch has left a stain on the Constitution” and that if there’s “any hope of removing that stain, it must start by shining a light on the improper actions of the Government in this tragic affair and imposing meaningful remedies.”

Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia’s criminal case is getting started in Tennessee, where he’s charged with illegally transporting undocumented immigrants. It’s an understatement to say the new case will be highly scrutinized, given how it came about in an apparent attempt by the administration to save face. That doesn’t mean federal prosecutors won’t be able to secure a conviction; they may be even more motivated to do so, given the political stakes.

On that note, ABC News reported, citing unnamed sources, that the decision to pursue the criminal case led high-ranking Tennessee prosecutor Ben Schrader to resign due to “concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons.” Asked about the reason for his resignation, Schrader declined to comment to NBC News. If his resignation is connected to the criminal case against Abrego Garcia, then the administration’s political posturing through the Justice Department has led to the loss of yet another career prosecutor — one of this administration’s sordid legacies, as exemplified by the Eric Adams dismissal debacle earlier this year.