Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who made national headlines after being wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March, has been returned to the U.S. and indicted on federal charges in Nashville.
The 29-year-old Abrego Garcia has been charged with "conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain" and "unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain." The first charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, while the second carries a potential sentence of 10 years in prison “per alien transported” and a maximum fine of $250,000.
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The case was unsealed Friday — the same day a motion for detention was submitted by acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire. In the motion, the government argues that Abrego Garcia “poses a significant danger to the community, as well as a risk of flight,” adding that Abrego Garcia's “only ties to the Middle District of Tennessee are directly related to his criminal activity.”
In November 2022, Abrego Garcia was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in Cookeville, Tenn.
“The defendant chose to smuggle undocumented aliens through Tennessee nearly every week during the course of the conspiracy,” reads the indictment, which can be read in full at the bottom of this post. “The defendant and his co-conspirators chose to travel through Tennessee for multiple reasons, including the route being the most direct course between Houston, Texas and Maryland. The defendant and his co-conspirators also felt that traveling through Tennessee provided less chance of scrutiny from law enforcement.”
The indictment alleges that Abrego Garcia “conspired to bring undocumented aliens to the United States from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and elsewhere, ultimately passing through Mexico before crossing into Texas” between 2016 and 2025 for “profit and private financial gain.” It also states that Abrego Garcia and five unnamed co-conspirators, all of whom are allegedly in the U.S. illegally, worked together in the scheme, adding that two co-conspirators — referred to as “CC-1” and “CC-2” — “occasionally and simultaneously transported firearms illegally purchased in Texas for distribution and resale in Maryland.” Prosecutors allege that CC-1 was at one point “incarcerated for alien smuggling and was deported from the United States” but later reentered the U.S.
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The indictment also states, without providing evidence, that in 2021, CC-6 “was involved in the transportation of more than 150 migrants that ended when the tractor trailer carrying them overturned in Mexico, resulting in the deaths of more than 50 migrants and injuring many others.” It also alleges that Abrego Garcia was “a member and associate” of the gang La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13.
In a news conference Friday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for “agreeing to return Garcia to the United States.” “This is what American justice looks like,” said Bondi.
“Last month, a federal grand jury in Tennessee charged Kilmar Abrego Garcia with smuggling illegal aliens, including MS-13 gang members, from the border into our country,” Tennessee’s senior U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn posted Friday on X (formerly Twitter). “This scheme allegedly took place for nearly a decade. It's finally time for Abrego Garcia to face justice.”
In recent months, GOP officials have made great political hay out of the Abrego Garcia case. Tennessee Republicans including U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles have derided Democrats' attempts to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Ogles also recently launched a congressional probe of Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell following Metro's response to extensive Nashville arrests in early May by federal immigration officials and the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
"After weeks of the Trump administration saying they either couldn't or wouldn't return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S., the timing of these charges are clearly designed to cover up their negligence and the fact that the Supreme Court unanimously called them out on the egregious ways they are ignoring due process," reads a statement posted Friday by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. "Still, Mr. Abrego Garcia will now be able to have his day in court, which the Constitution guarantees for everyone in our country regardless of citizenship."
Several vehicles left the courthouse following the motions hearing on Friday, which began around 4:30 p.m. and continued past the courthouse's normal closing time of 5 p.m. Abrego Garcia could not be seen in any of the vehicles that left the building's secured lot and sally port, as most had tinted windows. One vehicle, a silver Chevrolet Silverado, appeared to be the same truck that was seen transporting Abrego Garcia to the courthouse earlier Friday afternoon.
ABC News has reported that the new charges against Abrego Garcia led to the "abrupt departure" of chief Criminal Division prosecutor Ben Schrader, who the outlet reports resigned due to "concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons."
Abrego Garcia's arraignment is set for Friday, June 13.
