(Headline USA) Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged MS-13 member whom mainstream media dubbed “Maryland man” after he was deported to El Salvador, pleaded not guilty Friday to human smuggling charges in a federal court in Tennessee.
The hearing was the first chance Abrego Garcia has had in a U.S. courtroom to answer the Trump administration’s allegations since he was sent to an El Salvadorian supermax prison in March, in contravention of an immigration judge’s hold on his deportation.
Most of Friday’s hearing focused on whether Abrego Garcia should be released as he awaits trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes said she will write her decision “sooner rather than later.”
The smuggling charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. While officers suspected possible smuggling, Abrego Garcia was allowed to go on his way with only a warning.
BREAKING: Fox News has obtained video footage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia allegedly involved in human smuggling, as noted by Tennessee State Troopers.
This is the man Democrats decided to put their entire party behind lmao.
The incident happened during a traffic stop in Tennessee… pic.twitter.com/WrqkM36BkV
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 2, 2025
Body camera footage shows a calm exchange between officers and Abrego Garcia. The officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling before letting him go. One of the officers says, “He’s hauling these people for money.” Another says Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in an envelope.
The federal indictment accuses Abrego Garcia of smuggling throughout the U.S. hundreds of people living in the country illegally, including children and members of the violent MS-13 gang.
In briefings before Friday’s hearing, U.S. attorneys described Abrego Garcia as a danger to the community and a flight risk. They 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.
Rob McGuire, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, told the judge Friday that “migrant transportation is inherently dangerous.”
The prosecutor also presented two orders of protection that Abrego Garcia’s wife sought in 2020 and 2021 against him for domestic violence. Jennifer Vasquez Sura said this spring that the couple had worked things out “privately as a family, including by going to counseling.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys rejected the prosecution’s assertions that he was a danger, while arguing the charges aren’t serious enough for detention.
“If Mr. Abrego Garcia is so dangerous, this violent MS-13 guy, why did they wait almost three years to indict him on this?” Shabazz asked the judge. “Why wait until literally after the Supreme Court told them they denied him due process and they had to bring him back before they investigate him?”
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 Abrego Garcia was sexually inappropriate towards underage girls, Joseph testified, while a woman said Abrego Garcia had solicited nude photos of her when she was 15 and she believed he was in the MS-13 gang.
During cross-examination, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys raised questions about possible conflicts of interest. One man had been convicted of a felony and was previously deported. He also 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.
“He sounds like the exact type of person this government should be trying to deport,” Federal Public Defender Dumaka Shabazz said. “They’re going to give all these other people deals to stay in the country just to get this one other person.”
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. A third witness had previously been compensated for her work with law enforcement.
Tennent said 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 Abrego Garcia usually had two of his children and his wife with him.
Tennent pointed out that Abrego Garcia has three children, two of whom are autistic.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
