Salvadoran National Arraigned on Human Trafficking and Conspiracy Charges

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who had previously been deported to El Salvador, pleaded not guilty to federal charges of human trafficking and conspiracy during an arraignment in Tennessee on Friday.

Garcia’s defense team confirmed to U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes that they had reviewed the indictment and that Garcia understood the accusations against him before entering the plea.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop and include allegations that Garcia trafficked unauthorized migrants and conspired with others to do so, according to Fox News.

Garcia’s legal situation has drawn national attention, largely due to a legal battle over his deportation and efforts by the Trump administration to block his return despite a Supreme Court order earlier this year requiring his release.

His attorneys filed a motion Wednesday requesting Garcia’s release from custody while awaiting trial. They argued that the government’s claims regarding his gang affiliation and flight risk were unsubstantiated.

“Mr. Abrego Garcia asks the Court for what he has been denied the past several months – due process,” the filing stated. His legal team asserted that he had not engaged in international travel and posed no flight risk.

The defense has also disputed claims that Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang. The accusation was reportedly based on statements from a confidential informant who said Garcia was affiliated with an MS-13 faction in New York—a place Garcia has allegedly never lived.

Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, held a news conference in Nashville prior to the arraignment, the Conservative Brief reported.

She said her husband was “abducted and disappeared” by the Trump administration three months earlier.

Sura also shared that she had her first conversation with her husband in months the day before the arraignment. “Kilmar wants you to have faith,” she said. “He says to continue fighting, and I will be victorious because God is with us.”

She added that their young son was attending his kindergarten graduation in Maryland that day. “My heart is in Maryland with my kids,” she said. “But I’m here fighting for my husband.”

Federal prosecutors, however, asked the court to keep Garcia in detention, citing concerns that he could flee if not placed in ICE custody immediately.

According to court documents, the Department of Justice formally filed charges against Garcia on May 21, prompting questions about the timeline of the investigation and the convening of a grand jury.

Garcia’s family previously sued the Trump administration in March after his sudden deportation. Although he had been living in Maryland since entering the U.S. illegally in 2012, an immigration judge ruled in 2019 that he could be deported—just not to El Salvador.

Upon his return to the United States last week, Garcia was transferred to Tennessee to face the new federal charges related to human trafficking.

The Trump administration responded to the indictment with a press release stating that the charges proved critics of the deportation wrong.

“Abrego Garcia was never an innocent ‘Maryland Man’ — he is an illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker,” the DOJ said. “Democrat lawmakers like Senator Chris Van Hollen… must immediately apologize to his victims.”

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