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According to a report from the Department of Homeland Security, in December 2022, Abrego Garcia was stopped by troopers from the Tennessee Highway patrol when he was unable to stay in his lane.
The report states that at the time, troopers made note that there were eight others inside the vehicle, and Abrego Garcia advised that he started driving "three days ago" from Houston to Temple Hills in Maryland to bring people to perform construction work, which his wife confirmed in a statement.
Investigators made note that there was no luggage in the vehicle, "leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident."
Each of the passengers also provided authorities the same home address as Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia doubled down, officials said, by "pretending to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions."
He told troopers that the vehicle he was driving belonged to his boss, who works in construction.
Ultimately, the officer decided not to cite Abrego Garcia for driving infractions but gave him a warning citation for driving with an expired driver’s license, which was an MD "Limited Term Temporary."
"Encountering officer gathered names of other occupants in vehicle, but could not read their handwriting, but did not pursue further due to no citation being issued," the report states.
"As a result, he did not pass the names, dates of birth and IDs of those individuals."
Abrego Garcia's deportation and subsequent detention at the notorious El Salvadoran prison has drawn national attention, as local Maryland officials seek to bring him home, while the Trump administration and federal authorities have steadfastly refused to facilitate his removal.
"Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!," Trump posted on Truth Social.
Abrego Garcia remains housed at CECOT, with Maryland Congressman Glenn Ivey scheduled to be the next official to visit, planned for next month.
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