MS-13 gang rat Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling charges

Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty Friday to human smuggling charges, 
and the judge in case said she would wait to issue a decision on whether 
he should be released from custody pending trial.

One week after he was brought back to the Unites States from detention in 
El Salvador, Abrego Garcia entered his not guilty plea at his arraignment 
in Tennessee, where federal prosecutors have charged him with transporting 
undocumented migrants within the U.S. in what they say was a conspiracy 
involving the domestic transport of thousands of noncitizens from Mexico 
and Central America, including some children, in exchange for thousands of 
dollars.

Following his plea, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes heard arguments 
over whether he should continue to be detained, after which she said she 
would likely issue a written order in the near future -- "soon rather than 
later," she said.

Prosecutors acknowledged in a court filing on Monday that Abrego Garcia 
would almost certainly be immediately taken into custody by ICE if Judge 
Holmes were to deny their motion for pre-trial detention -- but they asked 
the court to consider, for the sake of argument, that he "would have an 
enormous reason to flee" if he were not immediately detained by ICE.

Much of the government's testimony in support of pre-trial detention came 
from Homeland Security special agent Pete Joseph, who testified about his 
investigation into the 2022 traffic stop where Abrego Garcia was pulled 
over for speeding in a vehicle with eight passengers and told police they 
had been working construction in Missouri.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol officers ultimately issued no speeding ticket 
and allowed Abrego Garcia to drive on with just a warning about an expired 
driver's license.

As ABC News previously reported, the criminal investigation that led to 
the charges was launched in April as federal authorities began to 
scrutinize the traffic stop.

Joseph testified that law enforcement officers who pulled over the vehicle 
asked those in the car to write down their name, date of birth and where 
they were traveling to -- what was described in court as a "roster" of who 
was traveling in the car. One person on the roster was a 15-year-old 
minor, according to the list provided to law enforcement -- a piece of 
evidence that the government alleges proves that Abrego Garcia also 
transported minors.

The judge grappled with how much weight to give that information, given 
that the Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper wasn't in court to testify 
specifically about the list.

"I'm not saying to you that I'm completely discounting it," said Judge 
Holmes, who added that she wasn't sure she was willing to accept that 
because the person was a minor meant that he was a minor victim.

Joseph also testified that some of the alleged co-conspirators and 
witnesses who spoke with federal authorities alleged that Abrego Garcia 
sometimes transported noncitizens with his wife and children. His 
children, Joseph said, sat on the floorboard of the car.

U.S. attorney Robert McGuire argued that showed there was a danger to 
Abrego Garcia's children, who he allegedly used as "cover."

"I would submit, Your Honor, that his children were at risk," McGuire 
said. "It is a dangerous business. And it was dangerous for his children."

Attorneys representing Abrego Garcia pressed Joseph about the so-called 
"deals" witnesses and co-conspirators received in exchange for their 
testimony.

Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, the owner of the car Abrego Garcia was driving 
-- and the main witness for the government -- is a two-time felon who re-
entered the country five times, according to Joseph.

Reyes, who was serving a 30-month prison sentence for illegal reentry, was 
recently sent to a halfway house due to security concerns -- a point 
Abrego Garcia's attorneys focused on during their cross examination.

Abrego Garcia has been the subject of a prolonged legal battle since he 
was deported in March to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison -- despite a 2019 
court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of 
persecution -- after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of 
the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.

The Trump administration, after arguing for nearly two months that it was 
unable to being him back, returned him the U.S. last week to face a two-
count indictment alleging that, while living with his wife and children in 
Maryland, he participated in a yearslong conspiracy to haul undocumented 
migrants from Texas to the interior of the country.

In addition to arguing that Abrego Garcia represents a flight risk, the 
government contends that Abrego-Garcia's alleged MS-13 ties put him at 
risk of attempting to obstruct justice or intimidate potential witnesses 
against him, including his alleged co-conspirators.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/kilmar-abrego-garcia-scheduled-arraigned-
charges-human-smuggling/story?id=122791176