Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported before his return to face charges, pleaded not guilty Friday to human trafficking and conspiracy in a Tennesee courthouse.
It was the first time the alleged MS-13 gangmember appeared in court to respond to the allegations made against him by the Trump administration since his erroneous deportation in March to a notorious El Salvadoran prison, according to Local3 News.
President Trump previously praised the DOJ’s action in bringing Abrego Garcia back to the US, telling reporters on Air Force One on Friday, “Bringing him back, you can show how bad he is. He’s a bad guy,” the president said.
Abrego Garcia entered the US illegally, as Law Enforcment Today previously reported, in 2011 and, along with his co-conspirators, trafficked thousands of illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America, including MS-13 gang members, in exchange for money, the indictment alleged.
“In order to maximize profits,” kids would be forced to sit on the floor, the document said.
Abrego Garcia’s human smuggling operation was tied to a 2021 tractor-trailer crash in Mexico that killed over 50 of the 180 illegals being transported inside.
The gang would typically pick up illegals in the Houston area and cover their tracks with authorities by concocting stories to tell them. They would also confiscate cell phones from those they were transporting so they couldn’t contact anyone until they reached their destinations, the indictment alleged.
Abrego Garcia’s indictment stemmed in part from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Body camera footage became public last month, showing Abrego Garcia driving seven other people, none of whom had luggage, on a several-day trip from Texas to Maryland.
While smuggling one person carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and Abrego Garcia is accused of moving hundreds over nearly ten years, Local3 News also revealed, his lawyers emphasize there is no mandatory minimum sentence. Court documents show the average human smuggling sentence last year was only 15 months.
Comments