Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported earlier this year and later returned to the United States, pleaded not guilty Friday to federal human smuggling charges.
Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland with his wife and children when he was deported to El Salvador in March, despite a court order that protected him from removal.
Days later, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return. After weeks of delays, Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S., but to face charges he had not been indicted for prior to his deportation.
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Federal prosecutors allege Abrego Garcia “played a significant role in an undocumented alien smuggling ring that has resulted in thousands of undocumented aliens being illegally transported into and throughout the United States.”
A federal grand jury indicted him in May on charges of alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling.
The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Scripps News obtained video of the traffic stop, which shows Abrego Garcia telling a Tennessee state trooper that he was taking the men in the vehicle to a construction site in St. Louis, Missouri.
Despite expressing suspicion that Abrego Garcia was transporting the individuals for money, he was ultimately let him go with a warning for speeding.
If convicted on the federal charges, officials said Abrego Garcia would serve his sentence in the United States before being returned to El Salvador.
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