Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, called on the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to fulfill The Star’s Open Records Request of materials documenting the 2022 traffic stop in Putnam County of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged MS-13 gang member and citizen of El Salvador who was deported last month under President Donald Trump, by Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officers.
On Wednesday, The Star reported that Abrego Garcia was suspected of being engaged in human trafficking by THP officers who detained him during a 2022 traffic stop on I-40; however, he was let go at the time after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requested that the state officers release him and the seven passengers in the vehicle.
On Thursday night, a THP spokesman confirmed The Star’s reporting on the 2022 traffic stop of Abrego Garcia, saying in a statement, “Per standard protocol, the THP contacted federal law enforcement authorities with the Biden-era FBI—the agency of jurisdiction—who made the decision not to detain him.”
During the nearly two-hour traffic stop, Abrego Garcia reportedly provided an expired Maryland temporary driver’s license and stated that he was transporting the seven other passengers from Texas to Maryland. The passengers did not have luggage, were unable to communicate in English, and seemed confused or uncooperative, which raised suspicion of human trafficking.
The Star has since filed an Open Records Request with the Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s Safety and Open Records Office seeking incident reports, computerized dispatch reports, photographs, dashboard and body camera footage, and any other records related to the stop of Abrego Garcia in late 2022.
Pappert said he believes the body camera footage The Star is seeking of Abrego Garcia during his interaction with THP officers will “completely change the way that America, even those on the far left, view this man.”
Noting how The Star’s Open Records Request was filed on Thursday, Pappert said the Department of Safety and Homeland Security has three days to reply to the request.
“They have three days where they have to respond to us and then at that point, they can say, ‘Give us money.’ They could say, ‘The answer is no because of X, Y, Z,’ at which point you can bet there would be some sort of appeal. Now we are requesting all documents, instant reports, computerized dispatch reports, traffic citations, field notes, images, including photographs, dash camera footage, body camera footage, any other visual documentation of the traffic stop, as well as dispatch records, communication records, including phone and radio communications, and any type of report that the Tennessee Highway Patrol or the Department of Safety and Department of Homeland Security might happen to have related to this stop,” Pappert explained on Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“We know they have this stuff. We know this because we have the computerized dispatch report number, and we now know that they were able to confirm this stop that happened more than two years ago. I think they should be able to give this to us quickly, if they have the motivation,” Pappert added.
Watch the interview:
Tune in now to the Tennessee Bonus Hour of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show – your AMERICA FIRST news talk with @EJUndertheRadar in-studio
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– Read more at @TheTNStar https://t.co/SEOLfK4M66— MichaelPatrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) April 18, 2025
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
