President Trump on Saturday said the Justice Department's (DOJ) latest case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year amid Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration — should be “very easy” for prosecutors.
The comment comes after news broke Friday that Abrego Garcia would return to the U.S. to face smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Asked about the administration's seeming reversal in bringing the man home, the president gave full credit to DOJ.
“The Department of Justice decided to do it that way, and that’s fine,” Trump told NBC News in a phone call Saturday, adding, “that wasn’t my decision.”
But, he told the outlet, “It should be a very easy case.”
The unsealed indictment charges Abrego Garcia with the unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens and a related conspiracy charge. According to the court filing, prosecutors allege that he made more than 100 trips between Texas and other areas in the U.S. over the course of several years to transport illegal immigrants in exchange for money.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday took a victory lap over the case.
“Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant, and they agreed to return him to our country,” she told reporters during a news conference. “The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring.”
“They found this was his full-time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women,” Bondi added.
The DOJ chief also noted that once a trial is complete, Abrego Garcio once again be deported to El Salvador.
His return to the U.S. comes after the White House fought numerous court rulings for months that ordered the administration to facilitate his return, including one from the Supreme Court. Trump, officials and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele alike rejected the order, arguing the man — who had been living in Maryland under a protective order — was linked to MS-13 gang activity.
Asked if he had spoken to Bukele in recent days, the president told the outlet that he had not. The two met at the White House earlier this year.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who faced scrutiny earlier this year over his meeting with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, called his return to the U.S. a “victory” for due process, despite the charges.
“This is a victory for due process. It’s a victory for the Constitution. It should not have taken this long. I mean … the Trump administration dragged its feet for a very long time and ignored a 9 to 0 order from the Supreme Court,” he told MSNBC in an interview Friday. “But it’s important that Abrego Garcia now come home and have his due process rights upheld in a court of law.”
Trump responded to the comments by calling Van Hollen a “loser.”
“He’s a loser. The guy’s a loser. They’re going to lose because of that same thing. That’s not what people want to hear,” he told NBC on Saturday. “He’s trying to defend a man who’s got a horrible record of abuse, abuse of women in particular.”
“No, he’s a total loser, this guy,” the president added.
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