The FBI told police in Tennessee who had stopped Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the MS-13 gang member the Trump administration deported to El Salvador last month, to release him even though he was suspected of human trafficking and smuggling of illegal immigrants at the time, according to sources who spoke with Fox News.
In a show segment on Thursday, host Jesse Watters played a video clip of Abrego Garcia’s interaction with officers, which showed them questioning the suspect who was traveling with a vehicle full of people. Watters said his show is the first to air the clip.
During the traffic stop, Abrego Garcia told officers that he and the others were traveling for work in Missouri, while also informing them that he lived in Maryland. Officers began to get suspicious when they discovered that Abrego Garcia and the others were traveling without any luggage or belongings.
“He was a suspect in a human trafficking operation dating back three years and Fox Digital just got their hands on the body camera,” Watters said, introducing the clip. “You are seeing it here first. Tennessee highway patrol stopped Kilmar for speeding and noticed he had eight other people in the car. All with no luggage.”
Here’s how the initial interaction went:
OFFICER: How are you?
ABREGO GARCIA: Good and you?
OFFICER: I’m all right. You have a bunch of people here, don’t you?
ABREGO GARCIA: Yes, go back to work.
OFFICER: Got you, where are you working?
ABREGO GARCIA: Missouri. Yes, sir.
OFFICER: Got you. Where do you live?
ABREGO GARCIA: Where are we living? In Maryland.
OFFICER: Whose vehicle is this? Whose car is it?
ABREGO GARCIA: My boss.
OFFICER: Where does he live? Where does your boss live?
ABREGO GARCIA: He’s in Maryland, but he lives in Texas.
OFFICER: Lives in Texas.
WATCH:
“After talking to Kilmar,” Watters continued, “the officers had no doubt that he was trafficking.”
MORE:
OFFICER: You know what you’ve got here right? He’s holding these people for money. A mass hauler.
[Indistinct]
OFFICER: There’s eight people in there. He’s getting paid, probably in Maryland, I would say. So let me ask you this, they don’t have any luggage in there, and if you get them out, they are going to have toothpaste and toothbrushes in their pocket, I guarantee.
OFFICER: He’s got $1400 cash in his pocket in an envelope.
“In the video, you can see one of the cops making a phone call,” Watters continued. “The body camera audio cuts over 10 minutes. Sources told us that on that call was Joe Biden’s FBI, which advised police not to detain Kilmar at the time.”
“That source also tells us highway patrol called Biden’s ICE, and they never showed up. Biden’s guys had an MS-13 gangster, suspected human smuggler, and wife-beater…released into the country. God knows what he did and was never caught for before Trump deported him,” he added.
Democrats have embraced Abrego Garcia as their latest anti-Trump cause, citing a U.S. Supreme Court order they say requires the administration to return him from El Salvador. But the order only says that the administration must “facilitate” his return, a vague term that gives the White House some room to try and negotiation with the El Salvadoran government. So far, however, that effort has been unsuccessful.
But as more information is uncovered regarding Abrego Garcia’s checkered past — and the fact that his status as being in the country illegally is not in dispute — Democratic leaders are pressuring members to refrain from traveling to El Salvador as the party suffers from the political fallout.
When asked Monday if Democrats should press ahead with their El Salvador trips, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sidestepped the question and instead attacked Trump’s approval ratings. However, Democratic aides told The Bulwark that he has privately urged members to pause future visits. “They want to let the El Salvador stuff slow down,” one senior staffer said.