Justice Department investigating 2022 Abrego Garcia traffic stop: Sources

WASHINGTON The U S Department of Justice has been quietly analyzing a Tennessee traffic stop in involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia the Salvadoran man at the center of a high-profile court battle over his mistaken deportation from Maryland to El Salvador by the Trump administration ABC News has learned Federal investigators involved in the inquiry lately spoke with a convicted felon in an Alabama prison and questioned him about probable connections to Abrego Garcia according to sources familiar with the review The inmate Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes was the registered owner of a truck driven by Abrego Garcia when he was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in late according to the sources Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding in a motorcycle with eight passengers and notified police they d been working construction in Missouri Federal agents inspecting the Tennessee affair appeared late last month at the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega Alabama to question Hernandez-Reyes who had an attorney present and was granted limited immunity sources familiar with the interview announced Hernandez-Reyes advised investigators that he previously operated a taxi provision based in Baltimore He claimed to have met Abrego Garcia around and claimed to have hired him on multiple occasions to transfer undocumented refugees from Texas to various locations in the United States the sources stated ABC News The frequency and time frame of the alleged trips was not forthwith clear It s unclear whether prosecutors will ultimately gather enough evidence to bring charges against Abrego Garcia The interview of Hernandez-Reyes however appears to be a new and aggressive step in the executive s efforts to gather potentially incriminating information about Abrego Garcia s background even as it resists calls for him to be provided typical protections to respond to such accusations through the American legal system A spokesperson for the Department of Justice declined to comment According to body camera footage of the traffic stop the Tennessee troopers after questioning Abrego Garcia discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling without luggage but Abrego Garcia was not ticketed or charged When petitioned to provide proof of insurance Abrego Garcia explained officers he would have to call his boss because he didn t know where the insurance card was in the car Audio from the police footage cuts out briefly after an officer asks Abrego Garcia who owned the wagon The officers ultimately issued no speeding ticket and allowed Abrego Garcia to drive on with just a warning about an expired driver s license according to a description about the stop disclosed last month by the U S Department of Homeland Safety The Tennessee Highway Patrol in a report last month declared troopers had contacted federal agents before making that decision The Tennessee Highway Patrol can confirm a traffic stop of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia who was stopped for speeding on I- a Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesperson stated Per standard protocol the THP contacted federal law enforcement functionaries with the Biden-era FBI the agency of jurisdiction who made the decision not to detain him An attorney for Abrego Garcia Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg explained last week that he saw no evidence of a crime in the Tennessee traffic stop But the point is not the traffic stop it s that Mr Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court Bring him back to the United States Sandoval-Moshenberg reported I have represented Kilmar Abrego Garcia for more than a month and this bodycam video is the first time I ve heard his voice He has been denied the greater part basic protections of due process no phone call to his lawyer no call to his wife or child and no opportunity to be heard he mentioned Sandoval-Moshenberg when reached Monday by ABC News declined further comment When details of the Tennessee traffic stop were first publicized Abrego Garcia s wife mentioned her husband sometimes transported groups of fellow construction workers between job sites Unfortunately Kilmar is right now imprisoned without contact with the outside world which means he cannot respond to the alleges Jennifer Vasquez Sura mentioned in mid-April The Trump administration in fresh weeks has been publicizing Abrego Garcia s interactions with police over the years despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges And now the episode in Tennessee nearly three years ago is under renewed scrutiny by the Justice Department sources tell ABC News just as the litigation over his erroneous deportation enters a critical stage The administration faces deadlines this week to answer discovery requests about what moves leaders have taken to comply with a district judge s order affirmed by the US Supreme Court to facilitate Abrego Garcia s return to the U S Four U S administrators are also set to be deposed this week by lawyers for Abrego-Garcia Abrego Garcia s expulsion in March to El Salvador violated a U S immigration judge s order in that shielded him from deportation to his native country according to immigration court records The judge had determined that Abrego Garcia would likely face persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized him and his family Abrego Garcia was initially sent to El Salvador s notorious CECOT prison but is now maintained to be held in a different facility Last month after Abrego Garcia s family filed a lawsuit U S District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U S The Supreme Court affirmed that ruling on April Hernandez-Reyes who was not present during the Tennessee traffic stop was charged in in a -count federal indictment for unlawful transportation of undocumented immigrants within the U S According to a criminal complaint Hernandez-Reyes had rented a minivan that was pulled over by police in Gautier Mississippi and ascertained with a total of nine undocumented occupants Abrego Garcia was not among them Hernandez-Reyes allegedly admitted he was in the U S illegally and explained federal investigators from the Department of Homeland Shield that he had previously lived in Maryland but had since moved to Houston He explained he operated a Texas-based business transporting people throughout the U S for per person In June he pleaded guilty to a single count of unlawful transportation of an alien and was sentenced to months in prison and subsequently deported according to court records He was ascertained back in the U S in late when he was charged in Montgomery County Texas with illegal discharge of a firearm according to state court records After serving time in Texas he was charged federally with illegally reentering the U S after previously being convicted of a felony He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to months Copyright ABC Audio All rights reserved Source