Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who has been returned to the US facing criminal charges for 'migrant smuggling'?

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March by the Donald Trump administration, has been returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges.

Hours after he was brought back to the United States, Abrego Garcia appeared in a Tennessee courtroom to face criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the US.

Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran man whose case has become a focal point in the ongoing debate over US immigration enforcement, due process, and the limits of executive power.

Born in July 1995 in San Salvador, Garcia fled gang violence in El Salvador at the age of 16 and entered the United States illegally around 2011 or 2012.

He settled in Maryland, where he worked as a construction apprentice and became a father to three children, including a son with autism and a hearing impairment. Garcia was a member of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 100 union.

The ‘mistaken’ deportation:

In March 2025, Garcia was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, despite a 2019 court order barring his removal due to threats against his family.

The administration later acknowledged that the deportation was an "administrative error." He was placed in a Salvadoran prison, an event that sparked public outcry and triggered legal challenges from his family and various advocacy groups.

After intervention from a Maryland federal judge and pressure from Democratic lawmakers, Garcia was returned to the US this month, but with a twist – to face federal charges related to human smuggling.

What is Abrego Garcia accused of?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an investigative report detailing a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, during which Garcia was found with eight other individuals in his vehicle, leading to suspicions of human trafficking. The report also indicated that Garcia had been validated as a member of the MS-13 gang by the Prince George's County Police Gang Unit in 2019.

Based on this information, a two-count federal indictment was unsealed upon his return, charging him with conspiracy and unlawful transportation of undocumented immigrants.

The indictment alleges his involvement in a decade-long operation transporting undocumented migrants from Central America, allegedly linked to the MS-13 gang.However, his family denies these claims.

What is ‘migrant smuggling’?

People smuggling, under US law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, either clandestinely or through deception, such as the use of fraudulent documents".Now, in general terms, migrant smuggling is assisting a person to enter or stay in a country without having the legal permission to do so. Migrant smugglers are sometimes driven by the desire for financial or material gain, rather than being motivated by altruistic or humanitarian reasons.However, migrant smuggling is different from human trafficking, as human trafficking involves exploiting men, women, or children for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation.

Whereas, human smuggling involves the provision of a service—typically, transportation or fraudulent documents—to an individual who voluntarily seeks to gain illegal entry into a foreign country.Garcia's legal team has disputed the allegations, insisting that they stem from the 2022 traffic stop where no charges were initially filed. As per their argument, the charges are politically motivated and seek to portray him as a criminal despite his long-standing residence and contributions to the US.