by jerry fisayo-bambi  & AP
It’s published •update
Kilmer Abrego Garcia, whose false deportation to El Salvador has become a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s strengthened immigration enforcement, was returned to the United States late Friday.
After returning to federal authorities, Garcia was charged with coordinating a massive human smuggling operation that illegally brought immigrants to the United States.
Officials said if he is charged and convicted in the United States, he will be returned to his home country in El Salvador after the case.
“This is what American justice looks like,” Attorney General Pam Bondy announced on Friday the return of Abrego Garcia and criminal charges.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a statement on the X that Garcia “fulfills the full force of American justice.” She called him “illegal foreigners, terrorists, gang members, human traffickers.”
According to US media, the charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop where Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected of trafficking him.
A report released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April stated that none of the people in the vehicle had any luggage, but did not list the same address as Abrego Garcia.
Although Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, officers allowed him to drive with only warnings about his expired driver’s license, the DHS report states.
The report added that he traveled from Texas to Maryland via Missouri to Maryland and invites people to do construction work.
Abrego Garcia’s wife claimed in a statement after the release of the report in April that he occasionally drove a group of workers between construction sites.
“He was not charged with a crime or cited for misconduct,” she emphasized.
The Trump administration has been publishing Garcia’s interactions with police for many years despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, but in the face of a federal court order, he is calling for parts of Congress to return him to the United States.
Tennessee officials released a video of the 2022 traffic stop last month. Body camera footage shows a gentle and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Officers then discussed allegations of human trafficking as nine people were traveling without luggage. One executive said, “He’s doing to carry these people for money.” Another said he has $1,400 (1,227 euros) in the envelope.
Simon Sandoval Morshenberg, a lawyer for Abrego Garcia, said in a statement after the release of the footage in May that he saw no evidence of the crime in the footage.
“But the point is not a traffic stop. That means Abrego Garcia deserves a day in court,” Sandoval Moshenberg said.
Garcia’s return comes days after the Trump administration complies with court orders and returned a Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico despite fears of being harmed there.
The man identified as OCG in court documents was the first person known to have been returned to US custody after deportation since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
