Kilmar Abrego Garcia case: New allegations detailed during Nashville court hearing
A federal agent shared new details about the human smuggling allegations against Kilmar Abrego Garcia during his detention hearing June 13.
He is charged with conspiracy to transport aliens and unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. He pleaded not guilty during his arraignment shortly after 10 a.m. June 13.
Nearly all of the accusations came from co-conspirators and other witnesses who have cooperated with the government. Defense attorneys challenged the cooperators' testimony because they stood to gain in their ongoing immigration or criminal cases.
'This house of cards is built on the testimony of unverified cooperators," Federal Public Defender Dumaka Shabazz said in the government's argument that afternoon. Shabazz argued their evidence should be given 'zero weight.'
Here are some of the new allegations the federal agent shared from his investigation into Abrego Garcia's case.
Homeland Security Investigations special agent Peter Joseph did not begin investigating the 2022 traffic stop in Cookeville that is central to the charges until April 28, 2025. That was three weeks before a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Abrego Garica.
Joseph said people in Central and South America paid $8,000 to enter the U.S. illegally through the alleged human smuggling operation. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is alleged to have picked up people in Texas and driven them around the country, received between $1,000-1,400 per trip and made between 1-2 trips per week, according to a co-conspirator, Joseph said.
The car Abrego Garcia was driving during at the time of the 2022 traffic stop was owned by Jose Hernandez-Reyes, according to Joseph. Hernandez-Reyes has been convicted of alien smuggling.
Agents are still investigating but have determined six of then nine people in the car were in the U.S. illegally and had arrived from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, Joseph said. Two of those people had been apprehended and returned to Mexico on Nov. 6, 2022, just days before Joseph alleges they reentered the country illegally.
One of the people in the car was 15 years old at the time of the stop, according to information they reported to the state troopers that night.
After Joseph mentioned Abrego Garcia was stopped on Interstate 81 in Virginia, the USA Today Network has learned of two times he had been stopped there, neither of which were widely reported. Court records show Abrego Garcia was pulled over in April 2015 in Virginia. He was issued a $67 fine for a High Occupancy Vehicle violation and charged with a misdemeanor for driving without a license. That charge was dismissed.
In addition to the 2015 stop, Matthew Demlein, public relations coordinator for the Virginia State Police, said Abrego Garcia was cited in 2021. He was cited for speeding and driving on an expired license. Both were misdemeanors, Demlein said. He paid a $144 fine and $79 court fee, and the driving without a license charge was dismissed, court records show.
Several of the five witnesses who cooperated with the government in building its case either are seeking to receive either a withholding of removal on a pending deportation case or favorable treatment in a criminal case, prosecutors admitted.
A co-conspirator said about 30% of the alleged smuggling business's customers were gang members.
Nick Penzenstadler contributed to this story.
Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: New details in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case revealed during hearing
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Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire, who leads all federal prosecutors in Nashville, and lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice are representing the federal government. Abrego Garcia's attorneys include the local Federal Public Defender Dumaka Shabazz and three assistant public defenders. "This has the feel of a case that's going to be very heavily litigated," said Jack Chin, a professor at the University of California Davis School of Law. The charges against Abrego Garcia were revealed when a federal indictment against him was unsealed June 6, the same day the U.S. flew him back from El Salvador. Abrego Garcia appeared in the Nashville courthouse that day, where he was read the charges against him. Since then, he has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals. More: How a routine traffic stop in TN exploded into human smuggling charges for Kilmar Abrego Garcia During the hearing, prosecutors and defense attorneys debated whether Abrego Garcia should stay behind bars while the case proceeds. Prosecutors have argued he is a danger to the community, and children in particular, and said there's a risk he could leave the country. Homeland Security Investigations special agent Peter Joseph testified that agents have spoken with five witnesses, including two alleged co-conspirators in what prosecutors say was a smuggling operation. Prosecutors played the bodycam footage from the November 2022 traffic stop in Cookeville now central to the case. Joseph said there was a minor in the car when Abrego Garcia was stopped. In the footage, Abrego Garcia is heard telling Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers that he and the nine others in the car were coming back from St. Louis. License plate readers, however, showed they were not in St. Louis in all of 2022, Joseph said. A license plate reader in Spring, Texas, registered a hit on the vehicle Abrego Garcia was driving days before he was stopped, Joseph said. Joseph also said agents found six of the nine people were in the country illegally. Two had been removed from the U.S. to Mexico in early November. Joseph testified that the Chevrolet Suburban Abrego Garcia was driving was owned by a man named Jose Hernandez-Reyes, whom Joseph said was convicted of alien smuggling. Prosecutors entered into evidence two orders of protection Abrego Garcia's wife has taken out against him. Just before the court recessed for lunch, one of Abrego Garcia's defense attorneys, federal public defender Richard Tennent, pressed the prosecution while cross examining Joseph. Tennent tried to poke holes in the timeline of the allegations of human smuggling levied by the prosecution. In particular, Tennent pointed to the length of the drives prosecutors say Abrego Garcia was taking, and questioned how Abrego Garcia would manage these distances while transporting his family and other passengers. Defense attorneys have argued for his release. "[T]he government isn't even entitled to a detention hearing in this case — much less detention," the defense wrote in a June 11 filing. "Mr. Abrego Garcia should be released." They argued Abrego Garcia does not have an incentive to flee and in fact may have a basis for a new asylum claim after he was illegally deported to a Salvadoran mega-prison. Abrego Garcia denies allegations he is a member of the MS-13 gang; defense attorneys argue that even if he were a member, that not reason enough to keep him detained. Defense attorneys also said the crimes did not involve minor victims, because no children were alleged to have been harmed in transit. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a detainer against Abrego Garcia. If Holmes were to rule that prosecutors cannot detain Abrego Garcia before trial, he would leave Marshals custody but be transferred to ICE custody due to the detainer, Chin said. If that happened, his attorneys may be able to secure his release. An immigration judge may decide to grant Abrego Garcia bail from ICE custody, Chin said. A crowd of at least 100 people had gathered outside the Fred D. Thompson Federal Courthouse by 9:45 a.m. At a nearby news conference, Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, read a message from her husband to the reporters and community members who'd gathered. "To all the families still fighting to be reunited after a family separation, or if you too are in detention, Kilmar wants you to have faith," Vasquez Sura said. "He said these dark times are where we're facing all of the tribulations God has put in our path. But keep praying and keep fighting that the light will always come soon for all of us, and you too will be able to see your family again." The crowd at the news conference chanted, "We are all Kilmar, we are all Kilmar." This case is separate from the civil case over Abrego Garcia's deportation. Prosecutors say between 2016 and 2025, Abrego Garcia was part of a conspiracy to transport undocumented migrants from various countries in Central and South America into and within the U.S. They say Abrego Garcia's role was generally to pick up immigrants in the Houston area and drive them to other locations in the U.S. The charges were filed in the Middle District of Tennessee because he was stopped in Cookeville in 2022 driving a Chevrolet Suburban with nine men the indictment suggests were undocumented immigrants. The Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers who pulled him over allowed him to leave, giving him only a warning for driving on an expired license. Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to charges in Nashville court
