Kilmar Abrego Garcia indicted on human trafficking charges, ordered to appear before judge in Nashville

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national deported earlier this year, is now back on U.S. soil - but this time, in handcuffs.Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that Abrego Garcia, 29, has landed in the United States and is set to face federal charges for human smuggling and conspiracy.

"Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice," Bondi said. "A grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee returned a sealed indictment charging him with alien smuggling and conspiracy."

"He traded the innocence of minor children for profit," Bondi said. Children were among those allegedly trafficked. The indictment, filed under seal last month, includes two felony counts.Fox News Digital obtained Tennessee Highway Patrol bodycam footage from a 2022 traffic stop where troopers pulled over Garcia for speeding. Inside his vehicle were eight other men, raising immediate suspicions. "He's hauling these people for money," one trooper said.

Troopers found $1,400 in cash and flagged Garcia in the National Crime Information Center, which returned a gang/terrorism alert. ICE was called, but never responded."What's changed since then?" Bondi asked rhetorically at the press conference. "Donald Trump is now president of the United States, and our borders are again secure."

The grand jury also heard allegations that Garcia trafficked firearms, narcotics, and solicited explicit images of a minor. He is even accused by a co-conspirator of being involved in the murder of a rival gang member's mother.

Court filings submitted today in the District of Maryland confirm that the government has complied with an April 4 preliminary injunction ordering his return. "Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States today, to stand trial," federal attorneys wrote in the notice.

But the Trump administration made it clear this was no victory for his defenders:"The Justice Department's Grand Jury Indictment against Abrego Garcia proves the unhinged Democrat Party was wrong, and their stenographers in the Fake News Media were once again played like fools," a Trump administration statement said. "Abrego Garcia was never an innocent 'Maryland Man' - he is an illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker... Democrat lawmakers like Senator Chris Van Hollen and the so-called 'journalists' who defended this criminal must immediately apologize to his victims."

Abrego Garcia was reportedly sent to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador after deportation, despite a 2019 court order temporarily blocking his removal due to claimed fears of persecution. Court records show Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and was ordered deported in 2019.

He will be prosecuted and, if convicted, serve his sentence in the U.S. before being returned to El Salvador, officials confirmed.

 "Today, the United States of America confronts Kilmar Abrego Garcia with overwhelming evidence- he is being indicted by a grand jury for human smuggling, including children, and conspiracy. Justice awaits this Salvadoran man."Fox News' Adam Sabes contributed to this report.