Former Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville Ben Schrader reportedly resigned from his post due to the “political” nature of the grand jury indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia’s grand jury indictment, which was quietly filed on May 21 and unsealed on Friday, claims that human smuggling was his full-time occupation as he allegedly completed over 100 smuggling trips across the U.S., primarily transporting illegal aliens, including minors and members of the violent MS-13 gang.
The ten-page indictment further accuses Abrego Garcia of abusing women and children during transport, soliciting explicit material from a minor, and being linked to the murder of a rival gang member’s mother. He was also suspected of trafficking firearms and narcotics.
Schrader, who resigned from his post the day Abrego Garcia’s indictment was signed by Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Robert E. McGuire, reportedly did so out of “concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons,” according to sources cited by ABC News.
While Schrader, who spent 15 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville, declined to comment when contacted by the outlet, he wished his colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office the best in their pursuit of “justice on behalf of the American people” in a LinkedIn post announcing his exit from his post last month.
“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. I wish all of my colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville and across the Department the best as they seek to do justice on behalf of the American people,” Schrader wrote in the LinkedIn post.
Abrego Garcia, a citizen of El Salvador who was living in the U.S. illegally before being deported to the CECOT mega-prison by the Trump administration earlier this year, landed at Nashville International Airport and appeared in a Nashville courtroom while handcuffed and shackled on Friday to face the grand jury charges.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville Ben Schrader” by Ben Schrader and “Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building” by USCourts.gov.
While withholding of removal provides temporary protection from deportation to the specific country in question, it doesn’t offer permanent protection or a path to permanent residence. A person granted withholding of removal could potentially be deported to a third country if the conditions in their home country improve and they are no longer at risk of persecution.
I almost forgot to mention that Garcia is a wife-beater. So why is it, Katherine, that you would still defend this low-life?
Katherine:
When a foreigner is driving on an expired license (probably a “greenlight” license issued by a DemocRAT-controlled state) and is transporting eight men without ID to the same destination then he’s not here legally and I would defy any order from a judge to keep him here. Do you really think President DJT would get arrested if he defied a court order? Not likely at all.
@James Bellar. I guess you’re not familiar with the prosecution of President Trump in the courts of Judge Merchan and Judge Engoron in New York.
Amazing how liberals think a gang member needs to be protected from other gang members! Astounding!
This man was granted “withholding of removal” status in 2019. This legal status, granted by an immigration judge, prevents the Department of Homeland Security from deporting him to El Salvador because he was deemed likely to face persecution by local gangs.
This status allowed him to live and work legally in the United States.
He was complying with required annual check-ins with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
He was following the rules and living here legally.
Katherine:
Human trafficking is not living here legally. From another TNstar article;
The ten-page indictment claims that smuggling was Abrego Garcia’s full-time occupation and accuses him of abusing women and children during transport, soliciting explicit material from a minor, and being linked to the murder of a rival gang member’s mother. Abrego Garcia was also suspected of trafficking firearms and narcotics.
Please explain why liberals are so quick to support people, usually of color, who are law breakers. Ever since Biden’s Auto Pen Gang opened the flood gates to the third world, there has been a disproportionate number of violent crimes at the hands of these ILLEGAL ALIENS. They ALL need to go back where they came from and then enter the country via lawful methods.
Buh bye
This issue is yet another example of how the donks care more about criminals than they do for LEGAL American citizens.
It would appear that our Justice System allowed illegal aliens to conduct criminal enterprises within our communities for years. Now we have new leadership and somehow putting an end to illegal alien criminal activity is political? The level of corruption within our government is staggering. Stop pretending we are not in a battle for our sacred freedom and liberty.
15 years would make him an Obama hire. Guess he didn’t have a problem with the era of persecuting Trump and his supporters, but when it comes to a Demonrat supported illegal terrorist gang banger and human trafficker? Good riddance.
i never heard of a political grand jury,can someone explain.