Union worker Kilmar Abrego Garcia has finally been brought back to the US after a months-long battle for his return after being wrongfully deported.
However, upon his arrival, Abrego was met with criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented immigrants within the US. The Trump administration brought Abrego Garcia back on June 6 to face an indictment which accuses him “of conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain” and “unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.”
The Trump administration has come under fire for deporting Abrego Garcia due to what the administration itself admitted as an “administrative error”.
“This is what American justice looks like,” said Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi announcing his return at a press conference at the Department of Justice on June 6. Bondi said that Abrego Garcia will face trial in the US, and if found guilty will be deported to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia had briefly languished in Nayib Bukele’s notorious CECOT prison, known for abuse, torture, and human rights violations, and has become the first person ever to be released from the prison according to available records.
Chris Newman, lawyer for Abrego Garcia’s family and the legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), was interviewed on Democracy Now! on June 10. “I’ve been down to El Salvador three times in the last month trying to liberate Kilmar. But what people in El Salvador say is that, number one, there are tens of thousands of people in El Salvador in similar situations as Kilmar,” Newman described.
“What we see in Los Angeles is people trying to protect the innocent the best way that they know how, by going out into the streets.”
