Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland construction operative, entered a plea of not guilty in a Tennessee federal tribunal to charges of human smuggling, allegations his legal team contends are a specious pretext to rationalise his wrongful deportation to El Salvador the preceding March, an expulsion that occurred prior to, and was subsequently overturned by, a Supreme Court mandate for his repatriation amidst escalating judicial scrutiny; Abrego Garcia’s defense team has challenged the probity of government witnesses, positing their cooperation as quid pro quo for immigration ameliorations, while the charges themselves stem from a 2022 traffic interdiction in Tennessee where Abrego Garcia was found at the helm of a vehicle conveying nine passengers, instigating initial suspicions of illicit conveyance, albeit suspicions insufficient at the time to warrant more than a perfunctory warning; antecedent to the arraignment, U.S. attorneys had characterized Abrego Garcia as a menace to the community and a potential fugitive, levelling accusations of narcotics and firearms trafficking, alongside allegations of maltreatment of the women under his transport, accusations which precipitated the resignation of Ben Schrader, erstwhile chief of the criminal division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.