“It should be.” Multiple questions about Abrego Garcia, the case against him, and the political fallout remain unanswered.
The indictment paints a different picture: Abrego Garcia was transporting nine Hispanic males without identification or luggage in a Chevrolet Suburban.
Instead, it had been in Houston where, according to prosecutors, Abrego Garcia had picked up the men.
For weeks, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, and other Democrats emphasized that their criticism targeted Trump’s decision to unilaterally deport Abrego Garcia without judicial oversight, not a defense of Abrego Garcia himself.
“We want to thank President Bukele for agreeing to return Abrego Garcia to the United States,” she said.
In a victory for the Trump administration’s messaging, Kilmar Abrego Garcia abruptly returned to the United States on Friday to face federal charges of smuggling migrants across the nation.
The news diverted attention away from a string of unanimous court decisions, including one from the Supreme Court, that said President Donald Trump lacked the authority to detain and deport people to foreign prisons without a judge’s approval.
Furthermore, the accusations made against Abrego Garcia are damning. According to a federal grand jury, the 29-year-old was a member of MS-13 and for nine years, he profited from the transportation of thousands of undocumented immigrants, including children, from Texas to states across the nation. He was also accused of abusing female migrants, transporting weapons and drugs, and being connected to an incident in Mexico where a tractor-trailer overturned, killing fifty migrants.
Abrego-Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg stated on Saturday that he would meet his client for the first time on Sunday, but he would not elaborate.
Speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals, a former senior law enforcement official expressed his amazement at the substantial amount of resources the DOJ invested in the investigation of Abrego Garcia.
“They would use all of these people to go after a low-level driver, which is strange,” the official remarked. Typically, we chased the coyotes and, if possible, up using the driver. However, it appears that they have found a way to achieve their goal of obtaining this guy. “”.
In a Saturday phone interview with Kristen Welker of NBC News, Trump celebrated the indictment of Abrego Garcia and said federal prosecutors would have no trouble convicting him. He remarked, “I believe it should be.”. “It ought to be.”. “.”.
There are still a number of unresolved issues regarding Abrego Garcia, the prosecution, and the political ramifications.
Will there be political consequences for Democrats?
Abrego Garcia’s wife, attorneys, and some Democrats have denied for months that he was a member of the MS-13 gang. Generally speaking, they described him as a construction worker from Maryland who was allegedly transporting colleagues when he was stopped on Interstate 40 by a Tennessee state trooper on November 30, 2022.
The indictment presents a different picture: Abrego Garcia was driving a Chevrolet Suburban while carrying nine Hispanic males without identification or luggage. According to the prosecution, he “knowingly and falsely” informed the trooper that they “had been in St. Louis for two weeks while working on construction projects, and they were heading back to Maryland.
Data from license plate readers, however, indicated that the Suburban had not been close to St. Louis for an entire year. On the contrary, prosecutors claim that Abrego Garcia had picked up the men in Houston. Although the vehicle was not transporting any tools or construction equipment, it did have improvised seating in the back cargo area to accommodate additional passengers.
Democrats’ discussion of the dangers of concentrating on Abrego Garcia’s case may be rekindled by the government’s apparent strength. Sen. Democrats, including Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, stressed that their criticism was directed at Trump’s decision to deport Abrego Garcia without following the proper legal procedures, not at Abrego Garcia.
President Trump sneered at the Senator and claimed that supporting the Abrego Garcia would hurt Democrats when Welker inquired about Van Hollen.
“He’s a failure. Trump told Van Hollen, “The guy is a loser.”. “That is the same reason they will lose.”. People don’t want to hear that. He is attempting to defend a man who has a terrible history of beating people, especially women. “”.
In an interview with CNN, Van Hollen defended his position. He declared, “You know, I will never apologize for standing up for the Constitution.”. Actually, the nation should accept an apology from the Trump administration and all of his allies for causing us to endure this needless ordeal. “”.
Inside the Trump Administration, what transpired?
During a visit to the Oval Office on April 15, 2025, Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other Trump administration officials claimed that the Trump administration could not “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador as the Supreme Court had mandated.
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, made fun of a reporter who inquired if he would. In the Oval Office, Bukele sat next to Trump and asked, “How can I bring him back to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?”. “I will not do it, of course. The question is absurd. “”.
The journalists in attendance were reprimanded by Trump, who said, “They would love to have a criminal released into our country.”. These folks are ill. “.”.
According to Bondi, the decision to return Bukele rests solely with El Salvador. Bondi stated, “We would facilitate it, meaning we would provide a plane, if they wanted to return him.”. El Salvador is free to return him if they so choose. We have no say in that. “”.
Yet, Bondi called Abrego Garcia’s return “smooth and seamless” during a press conference held at the Justice Department on Friday. “We express our gratitude to President Bukele for his consent to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States,” she stated. “El Salvador consented to bring him back to our nation after our government presented them with an arrest warrant. “”.
She praised Trump when asked what had changed since the 2022 traffic stop. “What has changed is that Donald Trump is now the president of the United States and our borders are secure once more,” Bondi stated. “.”.
Bondi also detailed accusations against Abrego Garcia that were left out of the indictment, which was an unusual move. Abrego Garcia “solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor” and “played a role in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother,” according to fellow conspirators, she said. “.”.
Defendants have typically only been charged with crimes for which a grand jury indicted them for decades by state and local prosecutors as well as attorneys general from both parties. For a long time, talking about other possible crimes has been seen as an abuse of prosecutorial authority that puts defendants’ reputations at unfair risk.
Bondi frequently speaks as a partisan Trump supporter rather than an impartial law enforcement official, according to a former senior Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for reprisals.
The former DOJ official claimed, “She always says the president’s name.”. She speaks more like a politician who is campaigning for a candidate than an attorney general who is speaking on her own. That is evident in the language she employs. “”.
What led to the resignation of Tennessee’s top federal prosecutor?
According to sources close to the case, the indictment led to the resignation of a seasoned career prosecutor who led the criminal division at the U.S. A. the lawyer’s office where the case was submitted. The prosecutor was not identified by the Journal.
Yet, just a few days after a federal grand jury in Nashville indicted Abrego Garcia, Ben Schrader, the head of the crime division in the U.S. S. . resigned from the Nashville attorney’s office.
“I resigned as Chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office earlier today, after serving as an Assistant United States Attorney for almost 15 years. A. “Middle District of Tennessee Attorney’s Office,” Schrader wrote on LinkedIn. “Working as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice has been an amazing honor; the only job description I’ve ever seen is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons. I’d like to wish my coworkers at the U. S. . The best attorneys’ offices in Nashville and the entire Department are working to uphold the rights of the American people. “.”.
