The “Maryland man” finally got his first day in court. Kilmar Abrego Garcia appeared in an orange jailhouse jumpsuit Friday before a federal magistrate judge in Tennessee to plead not guilty to a charge of human smuggling.
Judge Barbara Holmes is considering whether Mr. Abrego Garcia should be released from pretrial detention while his criminal case is pending. Federal officials said they would likely detain him on immigration law violations even if he is not held on criminal charges.
At the hearing in Nashville, the country got its first close look at the man whose March 15 deportation has become a flash point in the national immigration debate.
Prosecutors laid out some of the Trump administration’s claims against Mr. Abrego Garcia, and they faced early tests from defense attorneys who said the case was built on flimsy testimony from witnesses seeking government favors.
Outside the courtroom, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said she finally had her first conversations with her husband since his arrest and deportation.
Through her, the country heard from Mr. Abrego Garcia. She said her husband has felt “God’s presence with him” while facing “the darkness.”
“To all the families still fighting to be reunited after a family separation, or if you too are in a detention, Kilmar wants you to have faith,” she said.
“These dark times are where we’re facing our tribulations that God has put in our path. But keep praying and keep fighting, that the light will always come soon for all of us, and you too will be able to see your family again,” she quoted him as saying.
Mr. Abrego Garcia faces a single charge of migrant smuggling stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Authorities said he was transporting nine other people in his vehicle.
After he acknowledged that charge and entered his plea of not guilty, attorneys argued about whether he should remain in pretrial detention, an early test of the evidence and severity of the crime.
Investigators have identified and explored the backgrounds of at least six of the nine people in the vehicle. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Peter Joseph told the court that all nine are illegal immigrants.
The government said Mr. Abrego Garcia was a professional smuggler who made numerous monthly trips to bring people from the border deeper into the U.S. for $1,000 to $1,500 each.
Others involved in the operation said Mr. Abrego Garcia also smuggled guns and drugs and that children were sometimes his passengers, Agent Joseph told the court.
Prosecutors have said Mr. Abrego Garcia also solicited nude photos of an underage girl.
The initial allegation, that Mr. Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13, is based on a police gang investigation unit in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where he lived before his arrest and deportation.
Mr. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said the information is suspect, given that it comes from people with incentives to fabricate stories, including a felon with a previous deportation who is now receiving lenient federal treatment.
The attorneys said the smuggling charge alone isn’t enough to detain Mr. Abrego Garcia because it doesn’t suggest a violent crime.
“If Mr. Abrego Garcia is so dangerous, this violent MS-13 guy, why did they wait almost three years to indict him on this?” said Dumaka Shabazz, one of the attorneys, according to The Associated Press. “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?”
Agent Joseph said he was assigned to the case in late April. It was roughly six weeks after the government had deported Mr. Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran prison, and when Trump officials said he would never again set foot in the U.S., while a federal district judge was ordering his return.
That suggests the government was hedging its bets before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Judge Xinis has called the arrest and deportation of Mr. Abrego Garcia “unlawful.”
The government says Mr. Abrego Garcia’s extradition from El Salvador to face criminal charges in the U.S. fulfills Judge Xinis’ order, even though Mr. Abrego Garcia remains in custody and a different jurisdiction.
Outside the Tennessee courthouse, Ms. Vasquez Sura said she missed Kilmar Jr.’s kindergarten graduation in Maryland to attend her husband’s hearing.
“Our family should never have been in this situation,” she said. “We should be with our children. Me and Kilmar’s mind is here in Tennessee, but my heart is in Maryland with my kids.”
