Abrego Garcia Pleads Not Guilty to Human Trafficking Charges

Abrego Garcia was returned from El Salvador’s CECOT mega prison last week and is charged with conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.

A Homeland Security vehicle stands in front of the Fred D. Thompson Federal Building, housing the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from Maryland, U.S., to El Salvador by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, faces criminal charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national returned to the United States after being deported to his home country, pled not guilty to federal human trafficking charges on June 13.

Abrego Garcia entered the United States illegally more than a decade ago. Upon his arrest and deportation to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March, he was accused of being a member of MS-13, a gang that has been designated a terrorist organization.