In a twist of political irony, the Democrats believed they had scored a win, but they inadvertently opened a Pandora’s box. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 gang member who entered the U.S. without legal status, has been returned from El Salvador following a Supreme Court mandate compelling the Trump administration to facilitate his return. While this was intended to provide the due process advocates had been clamoring for, it appears that the due process in question pertains to federal human trafficking charges that could see him incarcerated for a decade.
Abrego Garcia’s journey into the U.S. began in 2011 when he crossed the border illegally at the tender age of 16. By 2019, two immigration judges had identified him as a member of the MS-13 gang, denying him bail based on evidence presented by police informants. The designation of MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization under the Trump administration means that its members are ineligible for deportation protections.
The only reprieve he received was a “withholding of removal,” which prevented deportation specifically to El Salvador, but not outright removal. To annul his protections due to his gang affiliation, the government would have needed to reopen his immigration case, a step they neglected to take.
Details revealed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) paint a troubling picture of Abrego Garcia’s personal life. His wife filed protective orders against him in both 2020 and 2021, alleging a pattern of domestic violence that included physical assaults and emotional abuse towards her children. Although she later claimed they had resolved their issues through counseling, Abrego Garcia has no criminal convictions because the charges were dismissed when she failed to appear in court.
On March 15, 2025, as part of a broader initiative to deport suspected gang members, the Trump administration sent Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, where he had no legal right to remain in the U.S. The only mistake, it seems, was deporting him to El Salvador despite the withholding order.
Initially, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele balked at the idea of taking back a terrorist, exclaiming, “Are you suggesting I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? How can I return him to the United States?” However, after negotiations with the Trump administration, he consented to Abrego Garcia’s return “to face justice.”
Fast forward to June 6, 2025, when Abrego Garcia found himself facing charges of conspiracy and unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain. The indictment claims he transported thousands of migrants from Texas to various locations across the U.S., conducting over 100 trips in a span of nine years.
The charges stemmed from a traffic stop in Tennessee in November 2022, during which he was found driving nine undocumented Hispanic passengers without any luggage. He attempted to mislead authorities by claiming they were construction workers from Missouri, even as cell phone data revealed his presence in Texas earlier that day. Additionally, Attorney General Pam Bondi disclosed uncharged allegations that he solicited explicit images from a minor and was involved in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother.
In a surprising turn of events, Ben Schrader, a respected veteran in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville, resigned on May 21, 2025—the same day the indictment was filed. He expressed concerns about the political motivations behind pursuing this case, emphasizing the need to do “the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.” Critics argue that such outrage is disingenuous, focusing more on the political implications than on the actual guilt or innocence of Abrego Garcia.
Defense attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg criticized the government’s handling of the case, asserting that Abrego Garcia was “disappeared” to a foreign prison in defiance of a court order. He contended that the return to the U.S. was not about rectifying a mistake but rather about seeking prosecution. However, this narrative overlooks the fact that Abrego Garcia was deported to his country of citizenship, where laws mandate the imprisonment of terrorists and gang members in facilities like the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
In fact, Abrego Garcia’s time in that high-security prison was brief, as he was quickly transferred to a standard prison due to Bukele’s stringent anti-gang policies. Under Bukele’s leadership, El Salvador has seen a dramatic decrease in its murder rate, plummeting from 105 per 100,000 in 2015 to a mere 1.9 per 100,000 in 2024. This transformation has allowed ordinary Salvadorans to reclaim their lives, free from the pervasive fear that once defined their existence.
Bukele’s hardline approach to crime has rendered El Salvador statistically safer than Canada, with citizens reporting a notable reduction in extortion and an increased ability to enjoy public spaces. Despite facing criticism for certain restrictions, the enhancements in security have significantly bolstered Bukele’s popularity among Salvadorans, many of whom had long endured the terror of gang violence.
Now, Abrego Garcia faces up to ten years in prison for each undocumented individual he allegedly smuggled—a potential life sentence. If convicted, the government plans to deport him to a third country upon completion of his sentence.
