GREENBELT, Md. (7News) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a mistakenly deported Salvadoran native who lived in Maryland, is on a plane headed back to the U.S., according to ABC News.

ABC News sources report that Abrego Garcia will return to the U.S. to face criminal charges.

This comes two months after President Donald Trump's administration admitted they mistakenly deported the man from Maryland to El Salvador.

A federal grand jury indicted him of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S., ABC reports. He will face those charges in Tennessee.

Abrego Garcia's lawyer told ABC News he was unaware of his return.

"We are going to fight to ensure Kilmar receives a fair trial—something he has yet to be afforded, especially by this administration," Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told ABC News. "From the beginning, this case has made one thing painfully clear: the government had the power to bring him back at any time. Instead, they chose to play games with the court and with a man’s life. We’re not just fighting for Kilmar—we’re fighting to ensure due process rights are protected for everyone."

SEE ALSO | Unsealed records in Abrego Garcia case offer few details that are new, unknown

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who illegally entered the U.S. in 2011. In 2019, a court ruled that he could not be deported due to the potential MS-13 gang violence he could face if he were moved back to his home country.

On March 12, 2025, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). At the time, ICE said that his deportation was a result of an "administrative error."

Attorney General Pam Bondi later claimed that the error in question was that there was an additional step in paperwork they needed for his deportation.

President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice continually claimed that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia's lawyers continue to deny those claims and said he has no criminal record.

On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the unsealing of several court documents in the lawsuit over Garcia's deportation, rejecting the Trump administration's arguments that it would risk national security.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued her order after media organizations, including The Associated Press, argued the public has a right to access court records under the First Amendment.

READ MORE | US files motion to dismiss lawsuit over Kilmar Abrego Garcia's deportation

Filings unsealed so far offer little information that’s new or unknown publicly. Xinis described one document as “relatively boilerplate.” It was a request by the Trump administration to temporarily halt discovery, an early phase of a lawsuit where parties share evidence.

“It does not disclose any potentially privileged or otherwise sensitive information for which a compelling government interest outweighs the right to access,” Xinis wrote.

Xinis noted that some documents were public before the court was asked to seal them the next day. Those filings contained a back-and-forth between Abrego Garcia’s attorneys and the U.S. government over efforts to return him from El Salvador.

Trump administration lawyers often objected to answering questions, arguing that they involve state secrets, sensitive diplomatic negotiations, and other protected information.

“Hard stop, he should not be in our country. He was deported, they needed one additional step in paperwork work, but now MS-13 is characterized, as it should be, as an FTO, a foreign terrorist organization,” said Bondi.

For example, the U.S. attorneys mentioned “appropriate diplomatic discussions with El Salvador.” But they wrote that disclosing the details ”could negatively impact any outcome.”

Xinis also ordered the partial release of a transcript from an April 30 court hearing. Some of it will be reacted to protect potentially classified information.

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen (D) went to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia on April 17.

While Maryland Rep. Glen Ivey (D) tried to visit Abrego Garcia in El Salvador again in late May, but said he was denied entry.

Ivey claimed he made a formal request through a U.S. ambassador to the Salvadoran government for the visit, but when they arrived, officials told him that he would need to go to San Salvador to get a permit.

"Stop playing games. Let us have a chance to talk with him," Rep. Ivey said in a video message on X.

Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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