The Maryland MS-13 gang member recently deported to El Salvador was detained in 2022 on suspicion of human trafficking by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officer.
Under Biden’s open border policies, the FBI told Tennessee patrol officers to release Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and the seven occupants in his vehicle.
Abrego Garcia has been thrust into the national spotlight in a historic immigration case. Democrats, news media and Abrego Garcia’s family members claim he is an innocent “Maryland father” who did not receive due process before being deported to an El Salvador prison a few weeks ago.
But police records present a different picture—one of a wife-beating gang banger who had avoided criminal prosecution. Police records dating back to 2019 show detectives with the Prince George County police positively identified Abrego Garcia as a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, now deemed a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Trump administration.
Abrego Garcia had several run-ins with police for associating with known gang members dating back to 2019 and domestic violence allegations filed against him by his wife in 2021.
The Tennessee Star broke the Tennessee traffic stop on Wednesday, reporting Abrego Garcia was pulled over on December 6, 2022, with a car full of people. But within two hours, the FBI told THP to let them go.
During a nearly two-hour traffic stop, the THP officer determined that Abrego Garcia was driving without a valid driver’s license and began investigating his background. The Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of trafficking the seven people inside the vehicle, leading the agency to contact the FBI for guidance.
“Something about the traffic stop caused concern in the mind of the THP officer that other law enforcement agencies should be alerted,” according to The Star report.
According to The Star, sources familiar with the Computerized Dispatch Report of the incident confirmed the officer who filed the report determined the seven individuals in the van were being transported from Texas to Maryland by Garcia.
“The officer who detained Garcia temporarily is well-respected within the Tennessee Highway Patrol, has served on a special interdiction team, and is based in a district located between Nashville and Knoxville, which includes Putnam County,” the article states.
One source told The Star that THP discovered Abrego Garcia was on a terrorist watch list, but could not locate Abrego Garcia on a deportation list. Another source gave conflicting reports and told The Star that THP could not locate Abrego Garcia on a terrorist watch list. But it was believed one of the seven passengers in the vehicle may have been on a terrorist watch list.
After contacting the FBI, led by former Director Christopher Wray under the Biden administration, agents told the Tennessee officers to take photographs of all eight people in the vehicle and document its contents and then let them go.
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador under the Trump administration in March. But Democratic lawmakers cried foul, saying he is being unjustly imprisoned. U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis and the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled he should be returned to the country.
However, the Trump administration argues he was lawfully deported under two prior court orders. And El Salvador’s president doesn’t plan to release him, either.
“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” said President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, during a recent Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump.
“How could I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course, I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,” said Bukele in response to a question about Abrego Garcia.
Although Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador, Bukele added, “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country.”
