Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling charges in Tennessee federal court

Facing court orders and mounting pressure to return Abrego Garcia, the Republican administration brought him back to the U.S. last week. But it was to face criminal charges related to what federal prosecutors said was a human smuggling operation that transported immigrants across the country.

Abrego Garcia's attorneys have characterized the smuggling case as a desperate attempt by the Trump administration to justify his mistaken deportation three months after the fact.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. His lawyers have called the allegations "preposterous."

Friday's hearing will determine whether Abrego Garcia should be released from jail as he awaits trial. In briefings before the hearing, U.S. attorneys described him as a danger to the community and a flight risk, while his public defenders said the charges aren't serious enough for detention.

The charges against Abrego Garcia are human smuggling. But in their request to keep Abrego Garcia in jail, U.S. attorneys also accused him of trafficking drugs and firearms and of abusing the women he transported, among other claims, although he is not charged with such crimes.

Special agent testifies

Friday's proceeding included testimony from a Department of Homeland Security agent who quoted three unnamed witnesses who spoke to a grand jury about Abrego Garcia's alleged actions.

Special agent Peter Joseph said that the witnesses saw Abrego Garcia trafficking people, guns or drugs and that Abrego Garcia earned upwards of $100,000 a year. One man said he saw Abrego Garcia bothering underage girls in a sexual way, Joseph testified, while a woman said Abrego Garcia had solicited nude photos of her when she was 15 and believed he was in the MS-13 gang.

During cross examination, Abrego Garcia's attorneys raised questions about possible conflicts of interest. One man is a felon who'd been previously deported and was serving a 30-month sentence when investigators contacted him, Joseph acknowledged. That witness is now living in a halfway house and on his way to getting work authorization.

The second man is a very close relative of the first witness and "said he would help in return for his release from jail," said Richard Tennent, an assistant federal public defender. The third witness had previously been compensated for her work with law enforcement.

Tennent pointed out that one of the witnesses told investigators that Abrego Garcia would drive roundtrip between Maryland and Houston — nearly 24 hours each way — two or three times per week. The witness said that Abrego Garcia nearly always had two of his children and his wife with him.

Tennent pointed out that Abrego Garcia has three children, two of whom are autistic.

Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador who had been living in the United States for more than a decade before he was deported. The expulsion violated a 2019 U.S. immigration judge's order that shielded him from deportation to his native country because he likely faced gang persecution there.

While the Trump administration described the mistaken removal as "an administrative error," officials have continued to justify it by insisting Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang. His wife and attorneys have denied the allegations, saying he's simply a construction worker and family man.

'Kilmar wants you to have faith'

Before Friday's hearing began in Nashville, Abrego Garcia's wife told a crowd outside a church that Thursday marked three months since the Trump administration "abducted and disappeared my husband and separated him from our family."

Her voice choked with emotion, Jennifer Vasquez Sura said she saw her husband for the first time on Thursday. She said, "Kilmar wants you to have faith," and asked the people supporting him and his family "'to continue fighting, and I will be victorious because God is with us.'"

The decision to charge Abrego Garcia criminally prompted the resignation of Ben Schrader, who was chief of the criminal division at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee. He did not directly address the indictment and declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press. However, a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter confirmed the connection.

The smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage released by Tennessee Highway Patrol shows a calm exchange between officers and Abrego Garcia. It also shows the officers discussing among themselves their suspicions of human smuggling before sending him on his way. One of the officers says, "He's hauling these people for money." Another says Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in an envelope.

Although the maximum sentence for smuggling one person is 10 years, and Abrego Garcia is accused of transporting hundreds of people over nearly a decade, his defense attorneys point out there's no minimum sentence. The average sentence for human smuggling last year was just 15 months, according to court filings.