Kilmar Abrego Garcia Claimed to Work in Nashville and St. Louis During 2022 Traffic Stop

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) confirmed highway patrol suspected Abrego Garcia of human trafficking, and portions of the video containing unredacted audio show troopers expressed doubt in the alleged itinerary of Abrego Garcia and his nine passengers.

Abrego Garcia, who was deported in March under the Trump administration, told the trooper who pulled over the vehicle that he was working on a construction job in St. Louis, despite the vehicle traveling in the opposite direction from the city on I-40 when it was stopped by THP.

“We are coming from St. Louis,” Abrego Garcia told the trooper. “I finished. That one’s finished. So I have everybody go back to the house.”

Though all of Abrego Garcia’s passengers claimed they did not speak English, the video showed the troopers nonetheless attempted to obtain their names, addresses, and dates of birth. During this period, the passenger in the front seat told troopers he lived in Silver Springs, Maryland, where Abrego Garcia resided, and identified himself as Ulises Jesus Hernandez Abrego.

According to DHS, every vehicle occupant claimed to live at the same Maryland address as Abrego Garcia.

When the trooper asked Abrego Garcia to clarify whether he was traveling to St. Louis or leaving Missouri after completing a job, he immediately volunteered the location of the group’s next gig.

“Next week, if I make it to Nashville, it’s the other project. The next project, next week, is everybody going to Nashville,” Abrego Garcia told the trooper.

At the time of the stop, Abrego Garcia was on I-40 in Cookeville, Tennessee, nearly two hours east of Nashville.

It is noteworthy that the THP Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) report provided to The Star in response to an Open Records Request revealed that the 2001 Chevrolet Suburban driven by Abrego Garcia, which had four rows of seats and ten occupants, was registered in Texas. The DHS confirmed that it was owned by a convicted human smuggler who lived in Houston, Texas.

Abrego Garcia also told the trooper that his boss, who was staying in Maryland at the time but lived in Houston, owned the vehicle.

The El Salvadoran citizen later indicated to troopers that he and his passengers spent the past two weeks in El Salvador, but DHS has stated that Abrego Garcia claimed to leave Houston just three days prior to the stop, and troopers debated the veracity of the alleged layover in Missouri during the stop.

“He first told me he was going to work in Missouri, and now he’s telling me he’s coming from working in Missouri, and he’s going to Maryland. But he said he’d be back in Nashville next week,” said one trooper.

A second trooper added later during the stop, “They’re all saying Maryland; said that they were coming from Texas, and the other one said they were coming from Saint Louis from construction.”

The trooper responsible for the stop noted, “They stopped at St. Louis, but they were definitely in Houston, Texas,” prompting the second trooper to interject, “They were so busy in Missouri for Thanksgiving, and they were going back home. No luggage.”

During other portions of the footage, one trooper explained the significance of the number of passengers to the trooper responsible for the stop, appearing to confirm they suspected Abrego Garcia was trafficking people through Tennessee.

“You know what you got right? He’s hauling these people for money,” said the trooper. “There’s eight people in there… He’s getting paid to haul these people, probably to Maryland, I would say, if I had to guess.”

TDOSHS did not explain the redactions to the audio when it released the video to The Star, which sought additional video and the full and unredacted audio captured by every THP body-worn camera and dashboard camera present for the stop.

Despite the significant audio redactions, a portion of the intact audio revealed that Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in cash on him during the stop, adding fuel to the THP suspicion that he was being paid to transport his passengers.

The CAD report provided to The Star also revealed that Abrego Garcia’s expired driver’s license, which was a form of Maryland license issued to authorize illegal immigrants to drive within that state, was more than two months out of date during the stop.

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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].