The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) is warning of a new text messaging scam circulating throughout the state, claiming to be from the Tennessee Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
The state agency warns that recipients of the scam messages have reported receiving messages warning of outstanding traffic ticket fines and threatening to suspend the recipients’ vehicle registration and driving privileges if payment is not made.
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News emerged on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), who The Tennessee Star reported last week is now investigating Kilmar Abrego Garcia, offered “limited immunity” to the owner of the vehicle driven by the Salvadoran national on his November 2022 trip from Texas to Maryland that was briefly interrupted by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) traffic stop in Tennessee.
After confirming the previous reporting by The Star, the ABC News report revealed that Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, who the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed was the owner of the 2001 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Abrego Garcia in 2022, recently spoke to a DOJ lawyer regarding the stop after being offered the immunity.
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Body-worn camera footage provided to The Tennessee Star last week by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) in response to its Open Record Request, showing the November 2022 traffic stop of Kilmar Abrego Garcia by Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), shows the Salvadoran citizen claim to have business in both Nashville, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, before he was released at the instruction of the “Biden-era FBI,” as THP told The Star last month.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed highway patrol suspected Abrego Garcia of human trafficking, and portions of the video containing unredacted audio shows troopers expressed doubt in the alleged itinerary of Abrego Garcia and his nine passengers.
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The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officers captured in the body-worn camera footage of the November 30, 2022 traffic stop of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, released by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) to The Tennessee Star last week, said that the Salvadoran national had a pocket containing $1,400 as he transported passengers from Texas to Maryland. Confirming troopers suspected Abrego Garcia was trafficking people from Texas to Maryland, with an unexplained stop in St. Louis, Missouri, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed last month, The Star reported last week that within the TDOSHS body camera footage, one trooper remarked, “He’s hauling these people for money.” The trooper added, “He’s getting paid to haul these people, probably to Maryland, I would say. If I had to guess.” BREAKING: Body cam footage obtained by Tennessee Star shows Tennessee Trooper saying Kilmar Abrego Garcia "hauling these people for money" pic.twitter.com/4FHWOIjSz5 — Tennessee Star (@TheTNStar) May 2, 2025 This analysis between troopers came shortly before one of the troopers divulged the cash found on Abrego Garcia’s person. “He’s got $1,400 cash in his pocket in an envelope,” said the trooper. “Probably payments.” Notably, the DHS has confirmed the 2001 Chevrolet Suburban driven…
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The Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) Report provided to The Tennessee Star by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS), containing a minute-by-minute report of actions taken by the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) during Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s traffic stop on November 30, 2022, revealed that the Maryland driver’s license presented by the Salvadoran citizen had been expired for more than two months at the time of the stop.
After The Star first reported that Abrego Garcia was stopped in Tennessee, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed troopers suspected him of human trafficking, and THP told The Star that troopers were instructed to release the illegal immigrant by the “Biden-era FBI.”
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The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) on Thursday sent The Tennessee Star two video files and four pages of documents from the November 30, 2022, stop by Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) of El Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has confirmed was suspected of human trafficking by troopers after being pulled over for speeding and failing to maintain his lane.
Despite The Star seeking video recorded by dashboard and body-worn cameras from all of the THP troopers involved in the traffic stop, TDOSHS included only the footage recorded by the trooper responsible for the stop. This is despite at least one of the other troopers’ body-worn cameras being visible in the video released by TDOSHS on Thursday.
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Body camera footage obtained by The Tennessee Star on Thursday as the result of an Open Records Request filed with the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) reveals Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officers discuss their suspicion that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was “hauling these people for money” during the November 30, 2022 traffic stop of the vehicle he was driving in Cookeville, Tennessee.Â
It also shows the moment THP released Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran citizen deported by the Trump administration in March, at the instruction of the “Biden-era FBI.”
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A response to two Open Records Requests filed by The Tennessee Star with the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS), the agency that oversees the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP), revealed that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle registered in Texas when he was stopped in Cookeville, Tennessee on November 30, 2022 and suspected of human trafficking.
Though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed the vehicle driven by Abrego Garcia was registered to Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, a convicted human smuggler who was arrested in 2019 on a trip from Houston, Texas, to the east coast, much of the information about the vehicle was redacted in the Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) report generated by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for The Star.
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The Tennessee Star was the first to report that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the recently deported citizen of El Salvador, was stopped by Tennessee Highway Patrol and suspected of human trafficking in December 2022, with the agency ultimately confirming the “Biden-era FBI” instructed officers to release Abrego Garcia and his eight passengers, despite their suspicions of human trafficking and him presenting an invalid driver’s license.Â
The decision by highway patrol not to contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), which is empowered by state statute to train law enforcement officers how to detect human trafficking, and to investigate human trafficking cases across the state, appears to contradict established procedures.
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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to comment on its active investigation into Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador deported last month, after two attorneys with the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) informed The Tennessee Star of the federal investigation on Tuesday.Â
The revelation that Abrego Garcia is subject to an active investigation made to The Star after it inquired about the status of the Open Records Request filed on April 17 by Michael Patrick Leahy with TDOSHS, which the agency effectively denied due to its failure to respond within seven business days, as required by the Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA).
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The Open Records Request filed on April 17 by Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, seeking video and written records from the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) stop of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in December 2022, was denied on Monday without explanation by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS).Â
The Tennessee Public Records Act provides state agencies with seven business days to respond to valid Open Records Requests, and explicitly states that “[f]ailure to respond to the request” constitutes “a denial,” which gives Leahy the right to sue to compel the agency to take action.
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Before being stopped in Tennessee for allegedly speeding and failing to maintain his lane while transporting eight people from Texas to Maryland, Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia likely passed through Liberty County, Texas, the location of the controversial housing development, Colony Ridge.
Colony Ridge allegedly caters to illegal immigrants, specifically offering homes to those who would ordinarily be unable to qualify for a mortgage due to their status as non-citizens, and was the scene of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid earlier this year, which led to the arrests of more than 100, including a previously deported member of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia was transporting eight passengers from Houston, Texas to Temple Hills, Maryland using a vehicle owned by an illegal immigrant who was convicted of human trafficking and deported from the United States to his country of origin, El Salvador.
Less than one week after The Tennessee Star reported that Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in late 2022, and released at the instruction of the “Biden-era FBI” despite being suspected of human trafficking, transporting nine passengers, and operating the vehicle without a valid license, Just the News reported that Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle registered to Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes.
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The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) is slow walking two Open Records Requests, filed by The Tennessee Star last week, which seek documents and video related to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador who was stopped by Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) in 2022, and deported by the Trump administration last month.
As the TDOSHS oversees the state law enforcement agency which first confirmed the 2022 stop to The Star, Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy filed a request on April 17, seeking all records held related to the stop of Abrego Garcia.
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), then led by former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas under the Biden administration, reportedly declined to “respond to the scene” in late 2022, when law enforcement stopped a vehicle driven by Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national deported last month by the Trump administration.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) told The Tennessee Star on Thursday that officers with the agency detained Abrego Garcia for nearly two hours, during which time he presented an expired, Maryland driver’s license that permits illegal immigrants to drive within the state, and was discovered to be transporting eight passengers.Â
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The Tennessee Star on Friday obtained an image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national deported last month by the Trump administration, which was captured by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) body camera during agency’s now-confirmed stop of the illegal immigrant in late 2022.Â
The image is captured from the passenger side of the vehicle, showing one of Abrego Garcia’s seven passengers sitting next to him. In the image, Abrego Garcia is depicted looking toward the officer from the driver’s seat, with one hand visible, while the passenger stares directly forward. Both men appear to be wearing seat belts.
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