Kilmar Ábrego García appeared at a hearing via video link in Nashville on Friday and denied charges of illegally transporting migrants and conspiracy.

Trump officials claim that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation that Mr Ábrego García's lawyers and family have strongly denied. After he was deported in March, government officials initially said he could not be brought back to the US, but later had him brought to Tennessee where he was charged. Mr Ábrego García first entered the US illegally in 2011 and was granted protection from deportation by an immigration judge in 2019 because it was determined he might face danger from gangs if returned to his native El Salvador.

However in March 2025 the Maryland resident was deported and initially held in El Salvador's Cecot mega-prison, in what Trump administration officials later admitted was a mistake. A judge  ordered the government to "facilitate" his return, however White House officials initially refused to bring him back. On Friday, protesters gathered outside the courthouse in support of Mr Ábrego García in advance of the hearing, according to local news reports. (BBC)