The chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division in Nashville, Tennessee has resigned over the DOJ’s decision to charge Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March. After months of ignoring court orders, including a 9-0 SCOTUS ruling, to facilitate his return, the Trump administration announced Friday that he has been returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges.
Abrego Garcia was indicted on two criminal counts in the Middle District of Tennessee: conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.
The DOJ’s decision to indict Abrego Garcia led to the abrupt resignation of Ben Schrader, the chief of the criminal division in the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
“It has been an incredible privilege to serve as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, where the only job description I’ve ever known is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons,” Schrader wrote in a post on LinkedIn, according to CNN.
Schrader, who has spent 15 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville, did not specifically name the indictment of Abrego Garcia for his departure, but sources told ABC News that it was due to concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, called the charges against his client “an abuse of power.”
“They’ll stop at nothing at all — even some of the most preposterous charges imaginable — just to avoid admitting that they made a mistake, which is what everyone knows happened in this case,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “Mr. Garcia is going to be vigorously defending the charges against him.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said if Abrego Garcia is convicted of the charges he will be deported back to his home country of El Salvador.
