Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland construction operative, entered a plea of not guilty to charges of human smuggling in a Tennessee federal tribunal, his legal team positing that the prosecution constitutes a *post facto* rationalisation for his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March, effectuated despite escalating judicial remonstrance culminating in a Supreme Court mandate for his repatriation; Abrego Garcia's counsel assailed the veracity of the government's witnesses, alleging their collusion in return for *quid pro quo* immigration concessions, charges emanating from a 2022 traffic interdiction in Tennessee during which Abrego Garcia was conveying nine passengers, thereby engendering initial suspicions of illicit conveyance, albeit he was ultimately released with a mere admonition; prior to the hearing, U.S. attorneys characterised Abrego Garcia as a menace to the community and a potential absconder, levelling accusations of narcotics and firearms trafficking, alongside the exploitation of female transportees, allegations 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.