Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, alleging his significant involvement in an international human smuggling operation. The announcement came just minutes after a federal court in Tennessee unsealed an indictment accusing Garcia of transporting “illegal aliens for financial gain” and conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.
Attorney General Bondi characterized Abrego Garcia’s alleged behavior as “disturbing,” stating that the incidents spanned years and involved the trafficking of women, children, and violent gang members.
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“Over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring,” Bondi stated during a press conference. “They found this was his full-time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women.”
Abrego Garcia made his initial court appearance Friday evening in the Middle District of Tennessee before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes.
When asked if he understood the charges against him, he responded, “Yes, I understand” in Spanish. Judge Holmes has scheduled a hearing for June 13, where Abrego Garcia will be arraigned on the charges, and the judge will consider the government’s motion to hold him in pre-trial detention.
The government asserts he “poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight.” He will remain in federal custody in Tennessee pending this week’s hearing.
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The government’s motion for detention further elaborated on potential penalties, stating, “If convicted at trial, the defendant faces a maximum punishment of 10 years’ imprisonment for ‘each alien’ he transported.”
This motion also contained a new allegation, not explicitly included in the indictment, that one of Abrego Garcia’s co-conspirators informed authorities that Abrego Garcia participated in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother in El Salvador.
The indictment alleges that Abrego Garcia and his co-conspirators are members of the transnational gang MS-13. They are accused of collaborating with individuals in other countries to transport immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and Mexico, then moving them from Houston to Maryland, frequently altering routes and fabricating cover stories about construction work if stopped by authorities.
The charges stem in part from a 2022 incident where the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped Abrego Garcia, who was driving a large SUV containing nine Hispanic men, some seated in the cargo area, none with identification. The indictment states that Abrego Garcia claimed they were construction workers from St. Louis, but the vehicle lacked luggage or tools, and license-plate data contradicted his story. He was found with $1,400 in cash.
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The indictment further links one of Abrego Garcia’s alleged co-conspirators to a tragic 2021 incident in Mexico where a tractor-trailer carrying over 150 migrants overturned, resulting in more than 50 deaths. Additionally, the indictment claims that Abrego Garcia often purchased guns illegally in Texas and transported them to Maryland, though he was not indicted on weapons charges.
During her press conference, Attorney General Bondi made additional serious allegations against Abrego Garcia. She stated that a co-conspirator claimed he abused undocumented women, that he solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor, and that he “played a role” in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother.
The indictment corroborates that Abrego Garcia often took cell phones from those he transported to prevent communication during trips and that co-conspirators reported his abuse of female undocumented aliens on occasions when relatives were not present, leading to orders for him to stop.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reacted strongly to the indictment on social media, criticizing “the media and Democrats [who] have burnt to the ground any last shred of credibility they had left by glorifying Kilmar Abrego Garcia a known MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, and serial domestic abuser.”
Further details emerging include a 2020 protective order sought by Abrego Garcia’s wife, who, in audio at the time, described him grabbing her hair and slapping her. This incident became public after the Department of Homeland Security released a copy of her 2021 restraining order petition, citing multiple incidents of abuse.
Meanwhile, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, sharply criticized the Department of Justice for bringing these charges, particularly after his client was sent to a foreign prison in alleged violation of a court order. “Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him,” Sandoval-Moshenberg stated. “Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, who previously visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, has reportedly framed the case around constitutional rights, adding another dimension to this unfolding legal battle.
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