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Kilmar Ábrego García pleads not guilty to federal charges of unlawful transportation of illegal immigrants

The charges relate to a traffic stop in which Ábrego García was driving a Chevrolet Suburban with with several Hispanic men through Tennessee in 2022.

Protest in favor of Kilmar Ábrego García / Oliver Cotreras

Protest in favor of Kilmar Ábrego García / Oliver CotrerasAFP

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Kilmar Ábrego García, an illegal immigrant who was deported to El Salvador and accused by the State Department of being a member of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), pleaded not guilty to federal charges of unlawfully transporting illegal immigrants.

The Salvadoran faces charges of conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for profit.

The allegations relate to a traffic stop in which Ábrego García drove a Chevrolet Suburban with several Hispanic men through Tennessee in 2022. According to prosecutors, he made more than 100 trips transporting people who illegally entered the country between Texas, Maryland and other states.

"The Court cannot find that Mr. Abrego Garcia poses a serious risk of international flight simply because he’s charged with a crime that the government finds distasteful," his lawyers wrote to the Tennessee court this week in a document obtained by CNN.

The case

At the time, local authorities pulled him over for speeding and noticed that he was traveling in his car with eight people and no luggage. All passengers gave their address as that of Ábrego García. According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report, the officers were suspicious of the situation but allowed him to continue on his way. They only left him with a warning about the expiration date of his license, so he was never charged in that regard.

Authorities suspect that there were MS-13 members in that car.

"The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring. They found this was his full time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women. He made over 100 trips, the grand jury found, smuggling people throughout our country," said Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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