NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A report from the Department of Homeland Security about a man whose case has received national attention after he was deported from Maryland to El Salvador alleged that he was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Kilmar Armando Abrego-Garcia, who was flown from Maryland to a prison in El Salvador by President Donald Trump’s administration, has been accused of being a terrorist and a member of the MS-13 gang.
Though the Trump administration initially claimed that the deportation was due to an administrative error and an immigration court ruled that the administration must “facilitate” his return, DHS has used the alleged traffic stop to justify his deportation without due process.
Abrego-Garcia was pulled over for speeding and improper lane maintenance by a THP trooper on December 1, 2022 near Cookeville along Interstate 40. According to the report, he told the trooper that he and eight other people in the vehicle with them were traveling from Texas to Maryland to perform construction work.
“There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident,” the DHS report reads, in part.
The report said Abrego-Garcia has been suspected of labor/human trafficking, though the report added that he had not been charged in this case. The trooper reportedly gave Abrego-Garcia a warning for driving with an expired driver’s license. Abrego-Garcia has no criminal convictions.
Tennessee’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security told Nexstar’s News 2 that the stop was lawful, adding that troopers reached out to federal authorities after seeing some information in a database. However, the DHS “opted not to respond to the scene.”
