Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a construction worker from Maryland, has said he is not guilty of human smuggling charges in a federal court in Tennessee. His lawyers claim that these charges are an attempt to make his wrong deportation to El Salvador in March seem right. The case began after the Supreme Court ordered him to return, because of increasing pressure. Abrego Garcia’s defense team questioned if the government witnesses could be trusted, stating they helped in exchange for immigration advantages. The charges come from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee where Abrego Garcia was driving nine people, which made officials think he was smuggling. Despite these suspicions, he was allowed to leave with only a warning. Before the court hearing, U.S. attorneys said Abrego Garcia was a risk to the community and might run away, accusing him of moving drugs and weapons, and hurting women he transported. These charges led to the resignation of Ben Schrader, who was the former head of the criminal division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.