The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) on Thursday told The Tennessee Star it had no knowledge of the 2022 stop by Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador who was deported last month under President Donald Trump.
Multiple sources confirmed the stop of Abrego Garcia’s vehicle to The Star, revealing he was determined by THP to be transporting seven passengers, operating the vehicle without a valid license, traveling from Texas to Maryland. Sources also told The Star that something about the stop made the responding officer suspect the vehicle or its occupants were engaged in human trafficking, eventually leading them to contact the FBI.
At the FBI’s request, THP then photographed the vehicle’s occupants and contents and detained Abrego Garcia for nearly two hours before releasing him.
The Star contacted TBI on Wednesday to ask whether the agency was aware of Abrego Garcia’s presence in Tennessee, and as the state’s key agency on human trafficking, if it was investigating Abrego Garcia or the vehicle’s transit from Texas to Maryland.
The TBI Public Affairs Office told The Star on Thursday, “We have had no documented interactions with Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He has not been the subject of a TBI investigation.”
TBI’s statement comes as the FBI has yet to respond to a Wednesday press inquiry that sought to confirm the agency requested THP officers to capture the photographs and release both Abrego Garcia and his passengers. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees human trafficking investigations, has also yet to reply to a press inquiry from The Star.
Following Wednesday’s exclusive reporting by The Star, additional information was surfaced about the 2022 traffic stop by Just the News, including that it reportedly occurred in November 2022 but was recorded into a DHS database on December 6, 2022.
The outlet also reported that Abrego Garcia “pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put the encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions,” and claimed the vehicle was owned by a Maryland construction company.
The Star has additionally learned that Abrego Garcia was stopped in Putnam County, Tennessee, located about one hour from Nashville.
Abrego Garcia told authorities he illegally immigrated to the United States in March 2012. He was determined likely to be a member of the Central American gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) by two judges, but maintains his innocence, and in 2019 was granted a “withholding of removal” order which prevented his deportation to El Salvador, citing safety concerns in his home country, but did not preclude his removal to a third country.
He was ultimately deported to El Salvador under the Trump administration last month due to a clerical error. Both U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis and the U.S. Supreme Court have ordered the White House to take steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States so that his immigration case may proceed as originally intended.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tennessee Highway Patrol Traffic Stop” by THP.
All of a sudden, every one of these departments are Sgt. Schultz.