After months of fighting court orders — including from the U.S. Supreme Court — to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States, the Justice Department June 6 returned him from El Salvador where he had been imprisoned after officials mistakenly deported him there March 15.
Rather than send Abrego Garcia back to his family in Maryland, authorities are holding the 29-year-old trade unionist without bail in Tennessee on federal charges of human trafficking. Abrego Garcia has lived in Maryland with his wife and children for 13 years and is a member of SMART Local 100.
From the moment he was deported, Abrego Garcia’s family, friends, fellow union members and the immigrant rights group he is a member of, CASA de Maryland, waged a fight for his return to the U.S. that won widespread labor support.
“Since March, our demand has not changed: Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be returned to the United States and receive his right to due process,” SMART General President Michael Coleman said June 7 in a statement. “This fight isn’t about one man — it’s about ensuring our constitutional rights are protected.”
Like thousands of other workers subject to immigration raids and fast-track deportation, Abrego Garcia was denied the constitutional right to defend himself. His deportation also violated a 2019 court order barring his removal because his life would be threatened if he was returned to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia was imprisoned for nearly three months in El Salvador, despite the U.S. government acknowledging his removal was a mistake. He was held in two prisons, the first being the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
The Justice Department charges against Abrego Garcia say he “conspired to bring undocumented aliens to the United States from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and elsewhere.” The indictment also claims he’s a “member and associate of the transnational criminal organization, La Mara Salvatrucha, otherwise known … as MS-13.” He, his family and friends deny he has ever belonged to the gang.
Prosecutors call for Abrego Garcia to face a maximum of 10 years imprisonment for “each alien” he is alleged to have transported, which would mean a life sentence. They claim he transported “approximately 50 undocumented aliens throughout the United States per month for several years.”
The family’s attorney, Chris Newman, says that President Donald Trump’s administration has engaged in “a campaign of disinformation, defamation against Kilmar and his family.”
As evidence for its charges the government cites a 2022 traffic stop when Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 40 East in Putnam County, Tennessee. He was in an SUV with eight other workers. He was issued a ticket for driving with an expired license. But authorities now twist this to try to claim it “proves” he’s a “human trafficker.”
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Abrego Garcia’s wife, has insisted he was not involved in criminal activity. “Kilmar worked in construction and sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, so it’s entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle,” she said in a statement in April. “He was not charged with any crime.”
Abrego Garcia was previously picked up by police in a Home Depot parking lot in Hyattsville, Maryland, in 2019, where he was looking for work — not at all uncommon, especially for construction workers. He and three others were arrested for “loitering.” Immigration cops claimed the location was a gang hangout. Their evidence amounted to the arrested men’s tattoos and clothing, and the allegation of a “confidential source.” But no charges were ever laid and the men were released.
Following the indictment, lawyers for Abrego Garcia say they’ll press for contempt proceedings against the government because of its “blatant, willful and persistent violations of court orders at excruciating cost to Abrego Garcia and his family.”