Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant from El Salvador, was wrongfully deported to El Salvador before being returned to the United States to face federal charges last week. On Friday, he pleaded not guilty to charges of human trafficking and conspiracy.
Garcia’s legal representatives informed U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes on Friday that they had sufficient time to review the indictment and that Garcia comprehended the allegations against him prior to formally entering his plea, which stems from a traffic stop in 2022.
Abrego Garcia is facing allegations of trafficking unauthorized migrants and conspiring with others to facilitate this, as reported by Fox News.
The criminal proceedings against the alleged MS-13 member Abrego Garcia are a continuation of a high-profile and lengthy legal struggle regarding his deportation, alongside the Trump administration’s attempts to postpone his return to the United States, despite the Supreme Court’s directive to “facilitate” his release earlier this year.
His situation has escalated into a national concern amid the ongoing discussion regarding President Trump’s stringent immigration policy during his second term.
In a court submission on Wednesday evening, the attorneys representing Abrego Garcia requested U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Tennessee to grant their client release from custody while he awaits trial, contending that the government’s basis for a detention hearing—and the claim of his affiliation with the MS-13 gang—lacks validity.
“Mr. Abrego Garcia seeks from the Court what has been denied to him for several months – due process,” his attorneys stated, emphasizing that there is no proof indicating their client poses a flight risk, nor that he has “systematically engaged in international travel recently.”
The defense for Abrego Garcia has also disputed his alleged membership in MS-13, which was founded on accusations from a confidential informant, as per court documents. The informant claimed that Abrego Garcia was part of an MS-13 faction in New York, a place where he has never resided.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Abrego Garcia, informed journalists at a press conference in Nashville prior to the arraignment that her husband had been “abducted and vanished” by the Trump administration three months ago yesterday.
She mentioned that the two were able to communicate for the first time on Thursday.
“Kilmar wants you to maintain your faith,” Sura remarked. “He encourages you to keep fighting, and I will achieve victory because God is on our side.”
Sura observed that their son, Kilmar Jr., was presently participating in his kindergarten graduation ceremony in Maryland. “My heart is in Maryland with my children,” she expressed, her voice trembling with emotion. “However, I am here advocating for my husband, for his father to return home.”
Federal prosecutors contested this and requested the judge to keep him incarcerated, asserting in their own motion that Abrego Garcia “would have significant motivation to flee” if he was not swiftly apprehended by ICE.
As per court documents, the Justice Department lodged charges against Abrego Garcia on May 21, raising a wave of concerns regarding the timing of the investigation and the grand jury’s formation.
Abrego Garcia’s family initiated a lawsuit against the Trump administration in March after the Salvadoran man, who had entered the United States unlawfully in 2012 and was living in Maryland, was unexpectedly deported to El Salvador in March. An immigration judge had ruled in 2019 that he could be deported, but not to El Salvador.
Upon Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States last week, he was swiftly relocated to Tennessee to confront federal charges related to the trafficking of unauthorized aliens.
“The Grand Jury Indictment from the Justice Department against Abrego Garcia demonstrates that the unhinged Democrat Party was mistaken, and their allies in the Fake News Media were once again made to look foolish,” stated a press release from the Trump administration.
“Abrego Garcia was never an innocent ‘Maryland Man’ — he is an illegal alien terrorist, a gang member, and a human trafficker… Democrat lawmakers such as Senator Chris Van Hollen and the so-called ‘journalists’ who supported this criminal must promptly apologize to his victims,” the DOJ remarked in a statement.
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