Don’t know how it is in the rest of the country, but in the DC area the MSM and usual suspects have gone all in on this gent, a gent in the US illegally. The “progressive” hysterics don’t bother reporting on the federal judge hip deep in this effort has a conflict of interest in the form of a daughter employed by a “progressive” org to agitate re various causes, including illegal immigration, or said judge’s apparent Never Trump ethos. The MSM hasn’t bothered reporting much about the MS-13 affiliation, though there was a piece on local news this morning dismissing a police department record showing that the “MD man” in question had a protective order filed by his wife, one where she cited his gang affiliation as one of her concerns, though she now disavows that protective order, with the MSM around here focusing instead on casting the release of the protective order info as some sort of nefarious Trump stunt.
Given info like that below, it’s surprising they are embracing this cause with such ardor:
Biden’s FBI Ordered TN Highway Patrol to Release ‘Maryland Man’ Recently Deported to El Salvador After He Was Detained in 2022 Traffic Stop on Suspicion of Human Trafficking
April 16, 2025 Tom Pappert
Kilmar Abrego Garcia
The Tennessee Star learned on Wednesday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged member of the Central American gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) who was deported to El Salvador under President Donald Trump amid legal action claiming the removal was by mistake, was suspected of being engaged in human trafficking by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officer who detained him in December 2022, leading the THP to contact the FBI for guidance. Within two hours, the FBI ultimately requested the THP release Garcia and the passengers in his vehicle. THP complied with the request.
The Star learned from sources familiar with the incident that Abrego Garcia was stopped for an unknown reason on December 6, 2022, and that the THP officer responsible for the stop immediately discovered Abrego Garcia was transporting seven passengers, with eight individuals inside the vehicle.
During a nearly two-hour traffic stop, the THP officer determined that Abrego Garcia (pictured above) was operating the vehicle without a valid driver’s license and began searching for information about him.
One source told The Star that THP ultimately discovered Abrego Garcia was on a terrorist watch list, but could not locate Abrego Garcia on a deportation list. Another source told The Star that THP did not discover Abrego Garcia on a terrorist watch list but that another one of the seven passengers in the vehicle may have been on a terrorist watch list.
THP subsequently called the FBI, which was then led by former Director Christopher Wray under the Biden administration. The FBI instructed the THP officers at the scene to capture photographs of all eight people in the vehicle and document its contents.
Once the photographs were captured, this source told The Star that the FBI requested THP release all eight individuals and that the THP officers complied with this request.
The Star learned that the circumstances of the stop made the THP officer responsible for the stop concerned that Abrego Garcia was engaged in human trafficking, but that Abrego Garcia and his passengers were nonetheless released at the request of the FBI.
Information about this incident, including the identity of the THP officer, the officer’s badge number, and the Computerized Dispatch Report code assigned to the incident, are all known to The Star, which is currently withholding this information.
Sources familiar with the Computerized Dispatch Report of the incident told The Star that the officer who filed the report confirmed that the seven individuals in the van were being transported from Texas to Maryland by Garcia.
Notably, it is a misdemeanor offense in the state of Tennessee to operate a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license. Anyone convicted of this Class B misdemeanor faces up to six months in jail.
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.
In response to Wednesday press inquiries from The Star, THP and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security both confirmed receiving the communication, and that communications staff would send responses which did not arrive prior to press time.
A comment request by The Star to the FBI, seeking to confirm its instructions to THP, was not immediately answered.
The Star also contacted the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), as the chief authority over human trafficking investigations in the state, to determine whether Abrego Garcia was released due to a TBI investigation, but did not receive an immediate response.
An inquiry to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees federal human trafficking investigations, likewise went unanswered prior to press time.
Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen who illegally immigrated to the United States in 2012. Despite two judges determining he is likely to be a member of MS-13, Abrego Garcia and his family have denied this claim. In 2019, he was granted a “withholding of removal” order, which determined Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador over concerns related to his safety in his homeland, but that he could be removed to a third country.
He was deported to El Salvador under the Trump administration in March. Both U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis and the U.S. Supreme Court have ruled that the government must take steps to allow Abrego Garcia to return to the country. However, the high court recently halted an order by Xinis on the grounds that she sought to compel the Trump administration to engage in diplomacy with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador.
Bukele, during a recent Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, stated that he had neither the authority nor the motivation to release Abrego Garcia, who is deemed a terrorist after the Trump administration added MS-13 to the federal government’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States. 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.
Asked whether he would consider releasing Abrego Garcia within the borders of El Salvador, the head of state replied, “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country.”
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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 pappert.tom@proton.me.
https://tennesseestar.com/justice/bidens-fbi-ordered-tn-highway-patrol-to-release-maryland-man-recently-deported-to-el-salvador-after-he-was-detained-in-2022-traffic-stop-on-suspicion-of-human-trafficking/tpappert/2025/04/16/
