Kilmar Abrego Garcia Drove Vehicle Registered to Convicted Human Trafficker During 2022 Traffic Stop in Tennessee, Court Records Confirm

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.

Hernandez Reyes was convicted in 2020 after he pleaded guilty to smuggling fellow illegal immigrants into the United States following a traffic stop in Mississippi. Hernandez Reyes was operating a company named Trans Express at the time, according to an affidavit filed by a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in December 2019.

It was further revealed that Hernandez Reyes was traveling with eight people in the vehicle, the same number as Abrego Garcia, and that he advertised the business on newspaper and social media.

Police said it cost $350 per person to secure a seat in Hernandez Reyes’ Dodge Grand Caravan, and that his illegal immigrant passengers were able to travel from Houston to destinations in South Carolina and Virginia.

Hernandez Reyes apparently made at least five trips from Houston to other parts of the country.

Notably, Hernandez Reyes was not driving the vehicle transporting illegal immigrants in 2020. It was instead driven by his brother-in-law, Modesto Alvarado, who apparently claimed to be the trafficker’s son, and was the only person inside the vehicle who was an American citizen.

A sentencing report obtained by The Star confirmed Hernandez Reyes pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport illegal immigrants. He was imprisoned for 18 months, but then remanded to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and banned from ever reentering the country for three years as part of his terms of release:

At the completion of the defendant’s term of imprisonment, the defendant shall be surrendered to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act. If removed, the defendant shall not re-enter the United States without the written permission of the Secretary of Homeland Security. The term of supervised release shall be non-reporting while the defendant is residing outside the United States. If the defendant re-enters the United States within the term of supervised release, he is to report to the nearest U.S. Probation Office within 72 hours of arrival.”

The latest information about the vehicle operated by Abrego Garcia, and the crimes committed by its owner, come after The Star obtained the 2019 “withholding of removal” order in the Salvadoran’s immigration case, revealing the judge actually barred him from being deported to Guatemala.

It additionally comes as the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOSHS) slow walks two Open Records Requests, filed by The Star, which seek body-worn camera and dashboard video from the Tennessee Highway Patrol stop of Abrego Garcia, as well as any reports generated as a result of the incident.

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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].