Bondi says that Ábrego García's charges deal with allegations of smuggling, but links his actions to those of MS-13 - an international criminal gang she says the Trump administration is fighting against.

She says the US government learned through the recent arrest of an MS-13 member in Virginia (unrelated to Abrego Garcia's case) that they "bring young children" into the United States and groom them to commit "violent crimes throughout our country".

Bondi is asked whether Garcia's return is linked to different courts ordering the administration help facilitate Garcia getting back to the US.

Todd Blanche, a former lawyer to Trump and now deputy attorney general, takes this one.

He says there is a "big difference between the state of play before and after the indictment".

Garcia was returned because there was an arrest warrant presented to the government in El Salvador, Blanche tells the news conference.

"So there's a big difference there," Blanche says.

For context: Judges all the way up to the US Supreme Court have ruled that Mr Abrego Garcia was deported in error and that the US government should help facilitate his return to his home in Maryland. You can read more about the case here.

A grand jury in Tennessee indicted Abrego Garcia on May 21, Bondi continues, and says "this investigation has been ongoing".

The indictment decision came months after Ábrego García was deported in March.

Todd Blanche, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer who is now with the Department of Justice, steps in to answer a question about Abrego Garcia's deportation and now return. He explains Abrego Garcia was brought back to the US because there is now an arrest warrant for him.

Bondi says that Ábrego García will be prosecuted in the US. If convicted, he will serve his sentence in the US and then be returned to El Salvador.

Bondi goes on to claim that Ábrego García trafficked weapons and narcotics into the US.

She adds that a co-conspirator alleges he was involved in the murder of a rival gang member’s mother and a separate allegation that Ábrego García allegedly solicited naked photos of a minor. Bondi does not provide evidence of these claims and he is not facing charges related to those allegations.

“These facts demonstrate Ábrego García is a danger to our community,” she says.

Bondi continues to say that the grand jury found that Ábrego García had played a "significant role" in an alien smuggling ring.

She says they found it was his "full time job" and alleges that he had made more than 100 trips smuggling people throughout the country - bringing in thousands of illegal immigrants to the US, Bondi says.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi thanks the President of El Salvador for helping return Ábrego García to the US.

She then says after Ábrego García serves his sentence in the US - if convicted of any crimes - he will then return to El Salvador.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has "landed in the United States to face justice", US Attorney General Pam Bondi says, beginning a news conference.

He will be charged with "alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling" after a grand jury indictment, she says.

Image source, Jennifer Vasquez

Ábrego García, 29, came to the US from El Salvador illegally around 2011.

In 2019, he was arrested with three other men in the US state of Maryland and detained by federal immigration authorities.

A judge granted him protection from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from gangs in his home country.

Ábrego García was living with his wife and child under this protected legal status in Maryland until he was deported on 15 March this year to El Salvador's notorious Cecot prison, in what the Trump administration admitted was an "administrative error".

At the same time, the US government alleges he is a "verified" member of the violent El Salvador gang MS-13 - claims that his lawyer denies.

Image source, Reuters

Kilmar Ábrego García - a 29-year-old from El Salvador who was deported from the US in March - is on his way back to the US, media reports.

He is reportedly going to face criminal changes when he returns.

Ábrego García faced a legal battle in the courts, which ultimately reached the US Supreme Court, over whether the US government should help "facilitate" his return to his home in Maryland.

The White House, which accused him of being a member of the transnational Salvadorian gang MS-13, a designated foreign terrorist organisation has not yet confirmed his return.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.