“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-Md., 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 arbitrarily detain and deport people to foreign prisons without a judge’s approval.
Furthermore, the accusations made against Abrego Garcia are damning. The 29-year-old was found by a federal grand jury to be an MS-13 member who, over a nine-year period, profited from the transportation of thousands of undocumented immigrants, including children, from Texas to states across the nation. In addition, he allegedly transported drugs and firearms, mistreated female migrants, and was connected to an incident in Mexico where fifty migrants were killed when a tractor-trailer overturned.
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.
A former senior law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals, expressed his amazement at the amount of resources the DOJ invested in the investigation of Abrego Garcia.
They came hard at a guy who was relatively low level, which is strange but does not necessarily mean it is wrong. “It seems childish that they might have wanted the final say,” the former official said. “Usually, you work up the chain rather than down. Nevertheless, this time he at least receives his due process rights. “.”.
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. “I believe it ought to be,” he remarked. It ought to be. “”.
There are still many unresolved questions regarding Abrego Garcia, the legal case against him, and the political ramifications.
Will Democrats suffer political consequences?
Some Democrats, Abrego Garcia’s wife, and his attorneys 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 by a Tennessee state trooper on Interstate 40 in November. October 30, 2022.
According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia was driving a Chevrolet Suburban while carrying nine Hispanic men without identification or luggage. He “knowingly and falsely” informed the trooper that they “had been in St. Louis for two weeks working on construction projects, and they were heading back to Maryland.
Nevertheless, data from license plate readers indicated that the Suburban had not been close to St. Louis for an entire year. Prosecutors claim that Abrego Garcia had picked up the men in Houston instead. 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.
The apparent strength of the government’s case may cause Democrats to reexamine the dangers of concentrating on Abrego Garcia’s case. Sen, for weeks. Van Hollen, Chris, D-Md. and other Democrats stressed that their criticism was not a defense of Abrego Garcia personally, but rather a focus on Trump’s decision to deport Abrego Garcia unilaterally without judicial oversight.
The president made fun of the senator and claimed that supporting the Abrego Garcia would backfire on Democrats when NBC News’ Kristen Welker questioned him about Van Hollen.
He’s a failure. The guy’s a loser,” Trump said, referring to Van Hollen. That same factor will cause them to lose. People don’t want to hear that. He is attempting to defend a man with a terrible history of abuse, specifically against women. “.”.
In a CNN interview, Van Hollen defended his position. He declared, “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. “”.
What transpired within the Trump White House?
The Trump administration was unable to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador as the Supreme Court had mandated, according to Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other Trump administration officials during an April 15, 2025, visit to the Oval Office.
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, made fun of a reporter who inquired if he would. As Bukele sat next to Trump in the Oval Office, he asked, “How can I bring him back to the United States? What if I smuggle him in?”. “I will not do it, of course. It is a ridiculous question. “”.
In response, Trump chastised the journalists in attendance, stating, “They would be thrilled to see a criminal freed in our nation.”. These folks are unwell. “”.
El Salvador alone, according to Bondi, could determine whether to send Abrego Garcia back. Bondi stated, “We would facilitate it, meaning we would provide a plane, if they wanted to return him.”. If El Salvador wishes to give him back, that’s fine. We have no say in that. “.”.
However, during a press conference held at the Justice Department on Friday, Bondi characterized Abrego Garcia’s return as seamless and easy. “We express our gratitude to President Bukele for his consent to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States,” she stated. “El Salvador agreed to bring him back to our nation after our government presented them with an arrest warrant. “.”.
She praised Trump when asked about changes since the 2022 traffic stop. “The United States is now led by Donald Trump, and our borders are safe once more,” Bondi stated. “”.
Additionally, Bondi made the unusual decision to detail accusations against Abrego Garcia that were left out of the indictment. 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. “”.
Both party attorneys general, as well as state and local prosecutors, have typically only charged defendants with crimes for which a grand jury has indicted them for decades. For a long time, discussing other possible crimes has been seen as an abuse of prosecutorial authority that puts defendants’ reputations at unjust 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’s evident from the words she uses. “”.
Why resigned Tennessee’s top federal prosecutor?
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that people close to the matter said the indictment prompted the resignation of a veteran career prosecutor who headed the criminal division at the U. A. The lawyer’s office where the case was submitted. The prosecutor’s name was withheld by the Journal.
But a few days after a federal grand jury in Nashville indicted Abrego Garcia, Ben Schrader, the head of the U.S. S. . resigned from his Nashville law firm.
I resigned earlier today as Chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, having served for almost 15 years as an Assistant United States Attorney. S. “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 hope all of my coworkers at the U. A. The best attorneys’ offices in Nashville and the entire Department are working to uphold the rights of the American people. “”.
A Justice Department representative told NBC News that the department does not comment on personnel changes when asked about Schrader’s resignation. When asked why he had resigned, Schrader, who was contacted by NBC News via text on his cellphone, replied in two words: “No comment. “.”.
