State troopers suspected Kilmar Abrego-Garcia of being involved in human trafficking, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol published body camera footage of their meeting with him in 2022.
Garcia, 29, is a Salvadorian who entered the country illegally in 2011 and was given a deportation order in 2019. According to two earlier judges, Abrego-Garcia was probably connected to Ms-13. In March, he was transported to El Salvador’s Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) after being deported. On November 30, 2022, Abrego-Garcia was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Abrego-Garcia had eight other people in his car when Tennessee Highway Patrol officers pulled him up for what was initially a speeding infraction, according to body camera footage that Fox News Digital was able to get through a public records request. Everybody in the car is a man.
“How many rows have you got in here? Four seats? Four rows of seats?” a state trooper can be heard saying. “Did y’all put an extra one in? Huh? Did yall put another one in no? They come like this I’ve never seen one with that many seats in it.”
“He’s hauling these people for money,” one state trooper said.
In the deleted section of the video, state troopers talked about contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke to Fox News Digital. When the troopers called ICE, Abrego-Garcia was not picked up.
According to the source, state troopers saw an alert indicating that Abrego-Garcia was suspected of being a terrorist or gang member when they put his name into the National Crime Information Center.
A trooper in the video claimed that Abrego-Garcia had $1,400 in cash on him, which he stated was most likely his paycheck. Additionally, a trooper pointed out that Abrego-Garcia’s Maryland driver’s license was invalid.
According to body camera footage, state troopers who stopped Abrego-Garcia stated they had reason to believe he was engaged in human trafficking. You hear a state trooper say, “This is a good stop.”
Abrego-Garcia was heard altering his statement multiple times during the traffic encounter. After initially stating that he was returning to his home in Maryland, Abrego-Garcia later stated that he was traveling to another place for employment. At first, he added, the group of people were traveling by car from St. Louis, Missouri.
According to court documents in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Abrego-Garcia has a history of beating her wife in a “violent” manner.
Abrego-Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, stated in a 2021 court filing: “At this point, I am afraid to be close to him.” I have numerous pictures and videos showing his violent tendencies as well as all of the bruises he [has] caused me.
The U.S. government was previously directed by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to “facilitate” Abrego-Garcia’s return to the country.
