Security video showing Kilmar Abrego being detained for alleged human trafficking is released

The Tennessee State Highway Patrol released body camera images and videos Thursday of their encounter in 2022 with Kilmar Abrego, in which it can be determined how state agents suspected the Salvadoran-born subject was involved in human trafficking. The audiovisual material, which was obtained by the conservative network Fox News, details that the Highway Patrol detained Abrego on Nov. 30, 2022, and shows officers pulling him over while he was carrying eight other men in his vehicle, in what was initially a speeding violation. "How many rows have you got in here? Four seats? Four rows of seats? Did y'all put an extra one in? Huh? Did yall put another one in no? They come like this? I've never seen one with that many seats in it. He's hauling these people for money," a state patrolman can be heard saying.

As highlighted by Fox News, a source familiar with the case detailed that, in the edited part of the video, there was a conversation in which the agents, after a discussion of a few seconds, decided to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which did not come to pick up the subject of Salvadoran origin. Similarly, the source told the conservative network that, upon entering his name in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), an alert appeared indicating that he was suspected of being part of a criminal organization.

Suspicions of the agents

In the video, one of the patrolmen can be heard stating that Abrego had $1,400 in cash, and suggesting that this amount of money would probably be the payment for transporting the other subjects who were in his vehicle. Similarly, it could be noted that, during the stop, Abrego changed his explanation about what was happening on two occasions, first stating that he was on his way back to his residence in Maryland, to later say that he was going to another city for work reasons.

Abrego was born in El Salvador and entered the United States illegally in 2011. Although he received a deportation order eight years later, U.S. authorities determined that the 29-year-old could not be deported to his home country. Despite this, Abrego was deported in March of this year and sent to the maximum-security CECOT prison in El Salvador. The Justice Department acknowledged that this action was the product of a "clerical error," and the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the President's Administration Donald Trump "facilitate" Abrego's return.