The moment Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the accused MS-13 gangbanger booted from the US and into El Salvador’s “hellhole” mega-prison — was suspected of human trafficking during a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee was revealed in a new bodycam video.
One trooper can be heard saying that the 29-year-old Salvadoran “was hauling these people for money,” according to footage obtained by Fox News Thursday.
“He’s getting paid to haul these people, probably to Maryland, I’d say if I had my guess,” the trooper said.
There were eight people in the vehicle with Abrego Garcia in the driver’s seat — and no luggage as they made the days-long trek from Texas to Maryland.
Abrego Garcia was apparently going too fast, which is why he was stopped, the trooper explained.
When officers put Abrego Garcia’s name into the National Crime Information Center, a warning came up that showed he was suspected of being a gang member, a source told the outlet.
After the law enforcement officer asked the illegal migrant a series of other questions, including if anyone else in the car had a license, he then conferred with other troopers.
“You know what you got here, right?” one trooper asked, adding that he thought Abrego Garcia was human trafficking.
A source told the outlet that in a redacted portion of the video, troopers talked about calling immigration enforcement officials.
While a phone call was made, federal authorities didn’t show up, Fox News reported.
Ultimately, Abrego Garcia was only given a citation for driving with an expired license and allowed to go on his way.
Abrego Garcia told the trooper the car belonged to his boss and also explained that his driver’s license was suspended, per the video.
He additionally told authorities that he lived in Maryland.
Controversy erupted on March 15, when Abrego Garcia was deported from the US and sent to the notorious CECOT prison in his native El Salvador. He was moved to a lower-security facility last month.
Federal officials at one point admitted that he was deported in error while also arguing the US doesn’t have the power to bring him back from the Central American country.
The Supreme Court has said the White House must facilitate his return, where he has lived in Maryland with his wife, who is a US citizen.
Since Abrego Garcia was thrown out of the country, the Trump administration has continued to make its case for why the alleged gangbanger should have been tossed out of the country along with hundreds of other suspected gang members.
The Department of Homeland Security previously said he was driving a convicted human smuggler’s car while transporting the group of men on the Tennessee highway.
He reportedly first entered the country illegally in 2011 and has argued that an October 2019 immigration court decision protected him from being sent back to his native country.
