The Salvadorian expelled “by mistake” by the Trump administration was brought back to the USA, but nothing is good awaiting him
Protest in the US after Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador. Photo: Jose Luis Magana / Ap / Profimedia
A “by mistake” Salvadorian immigrant, about which the Trump administration was not able to bring him back, was repatriated from Salvador to the United States, where he is now accused of migrants, announced the Minister of Justice, Pam Bondi, according to AFP.
The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a resident of the state of Maryland, married to an American, has become in the last three months a symbol of the conflict between federal justice, including the Supreme Court, and the Executive, accused of obstructing the courts that oppose the mass expulsions of the Trump administration.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was part of the more than 250 men expelled on March 15 in El Salvador, most of the alleged belonging to the Venezuelan band, declared “terrorist” organization by Washington. They were incarcerated in a maximum safety prison, known for the harsh conditions.
The Trump administration later acknowledged in court an “administrative error” in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, as the expulsion order to El Salvador had been permanently canceled in 2019.
“Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to be tried,” Ministra announced on Friday, referring to his prosecution for migrant trafficking in 2016 in front of a big jury in Tennessee. Sun charging started in May, but it was made public on Friday ,.
Bondi thanked President Salvadorian Nayib Bukele. “Our government has submitted to Salvador an arrest warrant and they agreed to send it back to our country,” she added.
If found guilty, Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be punished in the United States before being expelled to Salvador, Minister said.
“This case does not concern only one man”
The White House, after providing assurances for months that Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never set foot in the United States, strongly argued that his return had nothing to do with his expulsion, denying that it would have been initially an “error”.
“The government made Kilmar disappear in a foreign prison, violating a court decision. Now, after months of delays and secretomania, he brings him back not to correct his mistake, but to prosecute him,” said one of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, within a conference.
“He will defend himself with incarnation against the accusations against him,” the lawyer said, saying he wants to meet with his client “as soon as possible.”
“This case does not concern only one man,” stressed AMA Frimpong, the legal director of the Immigrants Defense Organization.
“It is about the fact that the government can make us disappear and silence us, the people, defying the judgments and using secret processes in order not to have to account,” she explained.
