Federal prosecutor defends smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia

A federal prosecutor on Thursday acknowledged that the decision to charge Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia two years after a routine traffic stop was “extraordinary,” while arguing that his human trafficking case was legally justified.

Abrego Garcia, 31, has been a flashpoint in the national immigration debate since last March, when he was deported to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order that Trump administration officials deemed an “administrative error.”

The Supreme Court later ruled that the administration should work to bring him back to the United States.

After returning in June, Abrego Garcia was taken into federal custody in Nashville and detained on human trafficking charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.

He has pleaded not guilty and is seeking to have the charges dismissed on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution.

A court order issued in 2019 blocks Abrego Garcia from being deported to El Salvador after an immigration judge ruled that Garcia was in danger of a gang threatening his family. He immigrated to the United States illegally in his youth and was under the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Abrego Garcia defendant in court records Repeated case of domestic violence against his wife, who claimed multiple incidents of physical abuse in her protection order applications. She later withdrew her request for a protective order and publicly defended her husband.

The Department of Homeland Security also said it objected to portraying him as merely a “Maryland man,” claiming he was living in the U.S. illegally and had ties to MS-13. His lawyers denied the gang allegations.

Tennessee Highway Patrol body camera footage of the moment Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding shows a calm exchange with officers. While police officers discussed the smuggling suspicions among themselves, Abrego Garcia was given only a warning, noting that there were nine passengers in the vehicle.

TENNESSEE BODY CAMERA FROM ‘MARYLAND MAN’S’ TRAFFIC STOP SHOWS SOLDIERS’ HANDS WERE TITLED DESPITE TRAFFICKING CLUES

A woman holds a sign supporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia outside the U.S. District Court in Nashville. (Getty Images)

Rob McGuire, First Assistant Attorney General for the Middle District of Tennessee, who served as U.S. attorney in April 2025, said in a statement Thursday that the decision to charge Abrego Garcia was based on the evidence.

“I have prosecuted many human trafficking cases before,” McGuire said, and after seeing the video of the traffic stop, “I was immediately struck by how similar what was shown on the body camera was to these investigations.”

McGuire said Abrego Garcia’s vehicle belonged to someone “with a history of human trafficking” and added that the route was “suspicious.”

“There were multiple people traveling in a single SUV with a driver who spoke on behalf of the group. No one had luggage… the car had Texas license plates… the route was suspicious,” McGuire said.

DEM JUDGE IS IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER DHS EXPOSED A ‘NEW LEVEL’ OF ACTIVISM BY HOUSING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT

Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrived at the federal courthouse Thursday for a hearing on whether to dismiss the charges against him. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Under cross-examination, McGuire acknowledged that the timing of the charges, coming so long after the traffic stop, was “extraordinary.”

He said he was not previously aware of the traffic stop but reiterated that no one in the Trump administration, including the White House or the Justice Department, pressured him to seek the indictment.

Asked if he felt pressure to prosecute the case, McGuire said, “I’m not going to do anything wrong to keep my job.”

WHILE AGENCY FACES GAG ORDER, DHS OFFICIAL SLAMS KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA ‘FOR TIKTOXING’

Kilmar Abrego Garcia (right) and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia (center) arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore on August 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

McGuire also said that the timing of the indictment was taken into account, as Abrego Garcia was being held in El Salvador, and that he did not want the indictment to be made public until all senior officials were informed about the matter.

“I knew from the beginning that this was going to be a controversial issue,” McGuire said.

U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw did not rule Thursday and said she would wait until March 5 for post-trial briefings from attorneys before deciding whether another hearing is necessary.

Crenshaw had previously found some evidence that the prosecution “may be vindictive” and that previous statements by Trump administration officials “raised concern.”

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Thursday’s hearing came after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Abrego Garcia in federal immigration enforcement on Feb. 17.

Breanne Deppisch and Jake Gibson of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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