WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Tennessee Highway Patrol released body camera footage, first obtained by Fox News, of their encounter with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in November 2022.
At the time, state troopers suspected that Abrego Garcia was involved with human trafficking, and he was pulled over for a speeding violation. He had eight other people in the car with him at the time.
Abrego Garcia is an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who had been living in Maryland for years and was recently arrested and sent to a Supermax prison in El Salvador, despite having protected legal status.
He originally entered the United States in 2011 and was issued a deportation order in 2019.
“How many rows have you got in here? Four seats? Four rows of seats?” a state trooper is heard saying in the video. “Did y’all put an extra one in? Huh? Did yall put another one in no? They come like this I’ve never seen one with that many seats in it.”
“He’s hauling these people for money,” another state trooper said.
State troopers found Abrego Garcia with $1,400 in cash, with one saying that it was most likely his payment.
Another trooper commented on Abrego Garcia having an invalid Maryland driver’s license.
In a redacted portion of the video, state troopers called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which did not come to pick up Abrego Garcia, according to Fox News.
In the video, Abrego Garcia is heard changing his story more than once. He first said that he was headed back to his home in Maryland, then said he was going somewhere for work. Abrego Garcia said the individuals in the vehicle were driving from St. Louis, Missouri.
The U.S. Supreme Court said the Trump Administration must facilitate his return and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has set new deadlines for the federal government to provide more details and answer additional questions from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers by Monday.
