Supporters gather for the arraignment and detention hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

By Luc Cohen

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) -Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant returned to the U.S. last week after being wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador, pleaded not guilty on Friday to criminal charges of taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle migrants into the United States.

Abrego Garcia's lawyer William Allensworth entered the not guilty plea on his behalf at a hearing in Nashville, Tennessee, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes. At the hearing, Abrego Garcia, 29, is also expected to contest a bid by federal prosecutors to have him detained pending trial.

People gather for the arraignment and detention hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

President Donald Trump's administration has portrayed the indictment of Abrego Garcia as vindication of its aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration. Before Abrego Garcia's indictment was unsealed on June 5, officials alleged he was a member of the MS-13 gang and said they would not bring him back.

The Justice Department's decision to return him to the U.S. to face criminal charges is a potential off-ramp for Trump's administration from its escalating confrontation with the judiciary over whether it complied with a court order to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return.

Signs are displayed in windows on the day supporters gather for the arraignment and detention hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

The Republican president's critics say his swift removal without a hearing showed the administration prioritized increased deportations over due process, the bedrock principle that people in the U.S., whether citizens or not, can contest governmental actions against them in the courts.

"You are presumed innocent, and it is the government's burden to prove at trial that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Holmes said, addressing Abrego Garcia.

The criminal proceeding will provide Abrego Garcia with due process by giving him the right to contest the charges contained in a grand jury indictment returned in secret on May 21. Still, his lawyers say his return to face criminal charges does not absolve the Trump administration of responsibility for wrongfully deporting him.

In the indictment, Abrego Garcia was charged with working with at least five co-conspirators as part of a smuggling ring to bring immigrants to the United States illegally, then transport them from the U.S.-Mexico border to destinations across the country. Abrego Garcia often picked up migrants in Houston, making more than 100 trips between Texas and Maryland between 2016 and 2025, the indictment alleges.

A U.S. Marshal sets up the fencing around a construction site by the courthouse on the day of the arraignment and detention hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

Abrego Garcia is also accused of transporting firearms and drugs.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, and his supporters gather outside the courthouse for the arraignment and detention hearing for Garcia in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

'ADMINISTRATIVE ERROR'

Prosecutors say Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident whose wife and young child are U.S. citizens, could face 10 years in prison for each migrant he smuggled. That means he could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted, according to prosecutors.

Supporters hold placards outside the courthouse as they gather for the arraignment and detention hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

They are urging he be detained, saying the potentially hefty sentence means he may try to flee. They also say detention is warranted because he allegedly murdered a rival gang member's mother in El Salvador and solicited child pornography, though those accusations are not part of his indictment.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, speaks outside the courthouse as people gather for the arraignment and detention hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

Abrego Garcia's lawyers have called the charges "fantastical" and deny that he is a flight risk.

Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15 to El Salvador, despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that he not be sent there because he could be persecuted by gangs. Officials called his removal an "administrative error."

In a separate civil case, Greenbelt, Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis is investigating whether the Trump administration violated her order to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return from El Salvador. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld that order.

Supporters gather outside the courthouse for the arraignment and detention hearing for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported from Maryland to El Salvador before being returned to the United States on migrant smuggling charges, in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Seth Herald

Abrego Garcia's lawyers are urging Xinis to hold administration officials in contempt and impose fines for stonewalling their requests for information about the steps the administration took to facilitate his return.

The Trump administration says Xinis should drop her probe because it complied with her order by deciding to bring Abrego Garcia back to face criminal charges. His lawyers disagree and say that for the administration to be in compliance, his immigration case must be handled as it would have been had he not been deported.

Activist Michele Flynn demonstrates in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia outside the federal courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Luc Cohen

A different judge on Friday is weighing whether to order the release of Mahmoud Khalil, another detained migrant whose attempted deportation is indicative of the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration policy.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in Newark, New Jersey, ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration could no longer detain Khalil, a prominent face of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, on the basis that his presence in the country was harmful to U.S. foreign policy.

FILE PHOTO: Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, looks on during a press conference with other family members, supporters and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo

Khalil's lawyers urged Farbiarz to directly order their client's release.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in Nashville, Tennessee;Editing by Noeleen Walder, Rosalba O'Brien and Rod Nickel)