Abrego Garcia returns to US: Mistakenly deported Salvadoran man faces migrant smuggling charges

Salvadoran man, who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration in March, has returned to the United States and was arrested on human smuggling charges.

Following extensive diplomatic negotiations between El Salvador’s government and the Trump administration, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was brought back to the US from El Salvador on Friday. However, he was immediately arrested and is facing charges of trafficking undocumented migrants into the country, said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice,” Bondi said at a press conference.

Earlier, the US Supreme Court had ordered the administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia following his wrongful deportation from the United States, stirring a controversy.

However, Bondi stressed that he was returned to the US after an arrest warrant was presented to the Salvadoran authorities.

“We’re grateful to (Salvadoran) President (Nayib) Bukele for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges,” she said.

Abrego Garcia, 29, a resident of the eastern state of Maryland, was one of over 200 migrants who were deported to a prison in El Salvador in March as part of Trump’s crackdown against illegal migrants.

The Trump administration alleged that most of the migrants deported were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has been declared a foreign terrorist organisation in the US.

Bondi alleged that Abrego Garcia had “played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring”, adding that he was a smuggler of “children and women” as well as members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.

“This defendant trafficked firearms and narcotics throughout our country on multiple occasions,” she said.

Bondi stated that Abrego Garcia would be returned to El Salvador after upon completion of any prison sentence.

‘We work with Trump administration’, says Bukele

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said on Friday (Jun 6) that Donald Trump’s administration asked him to return the Salvadoran migrant, three months after his wrongful deportation from the US.

In an X post, Bukele said, “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.”

He added, “That said, we work with the Trump administration, and if they request the return of a gang member to face charges, of course we wouldn’t refuse.”

“No more margaritas under custody,” he said, referring to the photographs posted by Bukele on social media claiming that Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and the wrongly deported man had been “sipping margaritas” as they met in April.