The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) dodged questions posed by The Tennessee Star in a Wednesday press inquiry about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador who was recently deported under President Donald Trump, and was detained by law enforcement while traveling through Tennessee in late 2022.
Additionally, the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS), which oversees THP, did not respond to questions related to Abrego Garcia’s presence in the state, which multiple sources confirmed to The Star on Wednesday, including that Abrego Garcia and his seven passengers were released at the request of the Biden administration’s FBI.
While neither state agency answered questions posed by The Star in Wednesday emails, both replied to the inquiries to indicate further information or a statement may be forthcoming.
The first response to The Star came from TDOSHS Assistant Commissioner Lee Dotson, who stated in an email sent just before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, “Your questions have been forwarded to our Communications staff.”
About thirty minutes later, TDOSHS Special Agent and Communications Director Jason Peck replied to the email chain.
“Thanks. THP got the same request,” wrote Peck. He added, “legal is looking at it now.”
It is unclear whether Peck’s response was intentionally shared with The Star.
More than an hour later, a spokesman for THP told The Star that a response from TDOSHS would be provided on Thursday.
Lieutenant Bill Miller, a THP Public Information Officer, stated, “I wanted to respond back to you and inform you that I have forwarded your email to our Safety Open Records Office. Their email is also copied on this email for your convenience. Someone from their office will be in contact with you tomorrow.”
The TDOSHS Safety Open Records Office did not contact The Star until after 4 p.m. on Thursday. The correspondence said the office would not respond to the press inquiry by The Star, which the department incorrectly referred to as an Open Records Request, unless The Star made additional efforts to comply with the Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA).
Hours before The Star received this response to its inquiry, and about one full day after The Star contacted the agency to comment on Abrego Garcia’s presence in Tennessee, Michael Patrick Leahy, the Editor-in-Chief of The Star, filed a separate Open Records Request with the TDOSHS Safety and Open Records Office on Thursday.
The Star and Leahy seek incident reports, computerized dispatch reports, photographs, dashboard and body camera footage, and any other records related to the stop of Abrego Garcia in late 2022. The agency had yet to confirm receipt of this request prior to press time.
In its initial inquiry, The Star informed THP and THOSHS it obtained the Computerized Dispatch Report number associated with this incident. The Star also knows the identity of a responding THP officer, as well as the officer’s badge number, and is currently withholding this information.
After The Star exclusively broke the story on Wednesday, Just the News corroborated many of the details of Abrego Garcia’s presence in Tennessee through Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents.
Neither the FBI nor DHS have replied to press inquiries from The Star, while the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) stated it had no knowledge of Abrego Garcia’s presence in Tennessee, and that he was not the subject of any of its investigations.
Abrego Garcia reportedly told law enforcement he entered the United States illegally around March 25, 2012. By 2019, two judges had determined he is likely to be a member of the Central American gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), though he and his family deny this claim, which led a judge to grant him a “withholding of removal” order that prevented the deportation of Abrego Garcia to his country of origin over safety concerns, but left the door open to removal to a third country.
He was ultimately deported by the Trump administration last month, though a U.S. District Judge and the U.S. Supreme Court have ordered the Trump administration to take steps toward Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States so that his immigration case may continue in accordance with prior court rulings.
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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 Public Safety Commissioner Jeff Long (left) and Tennessee Highway Patrol Col. Matt Perry (right)” by Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security.
