Abrego Garcia has become a central figure in the debate between Trump's policy of mass deportations and Democrats arguing for due process in court to fight criminal allegations and removals.

NASHVILLE − Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran immigrant at the heart of an international debate over President Donald Trump ’s tougher border security policies, pleaded not guilty to charges of human smuggling .

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Tennessee was also hearing arguments June 13 about whether to keep Abrego Garcia, 29, detained while awaiting trial on charges he transported undocumented immigrants for financial gain.

Prosecutors, who allege he is a member of the crime gang MS-13 , a designated terrorist organization , argued he could flee or intimidate witnesses if released. But Abrego Garcia, who denies belonging to the gang, argues the charges don’t justify being jailed.

Abrego Garcia has become a central figure in the debate over Trump’s tougher immigration enforcement. A longtime resident of Maryland, he was erroneously deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador on March 15 despite having an immigration court order preventing his removal. A federal judge in Maryland ordered the administration to facilitate his return , in a decision upheld by the Supreme Court, but officials resisted bringing him back until he was indicted May 21.

'5-alarm fire for Constitution': immigration advocate at rally

At the doors of First Lutheran Church in Nashville, immigrant-rights advocates and labor organizers decried his arrest and criminal case ahead of his arraignment. About 80 people gathered and chants rang out: “We are all Kilmar.”

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, told reporters their son Kilmar Jr. was graduating from kindergarten in Maryland as she spoke.

"My son is alone on his big day," Vasquez Sura said. "And I'm here fighting for my husband, for his dad, to come back home."

Vasquez Sura said her husband urged other families fighting to be reunited after a separation to have faith.

"He said these dark times are where we're facing all of the tribulations God has put in our path," Vasquez Sura said. "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."

Immigration advocates tied the case to heightened immigration enforcement because Tennessee officials cooperated with federal authorities detaining immigrants.

“We are here because we believe this is a five-alarm fire for our Constitution, our rights and our democracy,” Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, told reporters. “We are fighting for our freedom, our families and our future — a future where no one is ripped off the street or from their car, and sent to foreign prisons without due process.”

Charges in Tennessee stem from 2022 traffic stop

The indictment alleges that from 2016 to 2025, Abrego Garcia and other unnamed people conspired to bring undocumented migrants into the United States from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador and elsewhere, passing through Mexico before crossing into Texas.

Prosecutors say Abrego Garcia made more than 100 trips, typically transporting people within the country after picking them up in the Houston area.

A Tennessee state trooper pulled over a Chevrolet Suburban in November 2022 with Abrego Garcia at the wheel and nine other Hispanic men inside. Garcia, who had $1,400 in cash while none of the other men had identification or luggage, said he was taking men back to Maryland after working in construction in St. Louis.

Abrego Garcia told the officer he was taking the men back to Maryland from St. Louis, where he said they had been working on a construction site. But license-plate data showed the vehicle hadn’t been in St. Louis for at least a year, but that it had been in Houston.

The charges carry a maximum 10 years in prison for each person transported.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a recent news conference that what changed since the 2022 traffic stop “is Donald Trump is now president of the United States, and our borders are again secure.”

Abrego Garcia fought to avoid deportation in Maryland

Abrego Garcia had been fighting an immigration case for years before the criminal charges were filed.He fled El Salvador in 2006 and eventually arrived in Maryland. He applied for asylum and an immigration judge blocked his deportation in 2019 while that case was heard.

Amid Trump’s tougher immigration enforcement, federal agents arrested Abrego Garcia on March 12 and deported him with hundreds of others to El Salvador on March 15.

Authorities later acknowledged an administrative error in his removal because of the court order barring deportation.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland called his deportation was "an illegal act" and ordered his return on April 4, in a decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court . But Justice Department lawyers said they had no control over him in a foreign country .

Abrego Garcia’s immigration attorney has raised questions about the government's motivation for filing the criminal charges.

“The government disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order,” said his immigration attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “This is an abuse of power, not justice.”

Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas of USA TODAY and Ruben Montoya, Austin Hornbostel and Craig Shoup of The (Nashville) Tennessean.