Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whose deportation to El Salvador made him a flashpoint in the debate over President Donald Trump's immigration policy, faces human trafficking charges after he was returned to the United States, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Abrego Garcia made more than 100 trips to move illegal immigrants across the United States, Bondi said at a June 6 press conference, alleging he was a member of the MS-13 street gang. "Thousands of illegal aliens were smuggled," she said.
The indictment was a dramatic turnabout for Abrego Garcia's supporters, who have portrayed him as an innocent man turned political pawn amid Trump's mass deportation program.
To the contrary, Bondi said, Abrego Garcia "traded the innocence of minor children for profit."
President Donald Trump refused to comment to reporters traveling with him June 6 about whether he pressed Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to return Abrego Garcia. But Trump continued to argue he shouldn’t have been returned.