DOJ Reportedly Gave ‘Limited Immunity’ to Human Smuggler Who Owned Van Driven by Kilmar Abrego Garcia for Details on 2022 Trip

News emerged on Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), who The Tennessee Star reported last week is now investigating Kilmar Abrego Garcia, offered “limited immunity” to the owner of the vehicle driven by the El Salvadoran national on his November 2022 trip from Texas to Maryland that was briefly interrupted by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) traffic stop in Tennessee.

After confirming The Star’s previous reporting, the ABC News report revealed that Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, who the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed was the owner of the 2001 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Abrego Garcia in 2022, recently spoke to a DOJ lawyer regarding the stop after being offered immunity.

Hernandez Reyes was previously arrested in 2019 and convicted of human trafficking in 2020. At that point, he was sentenced to 18 months behind bars, then deported and ordered not to return for three years.

According to the Tuesday report, Hernandez Reyes violated the terms of his sentence and illegally reentered the United States sometime later, allowing DOJ attorneys to interview Hernandez Reyes at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Talladega, Alabama.

The outlet, citing sources familiar with the interview, reported that Hernandez Reyes “recently spoke” with attorneys who asked questions about his connections to Abrego Garcia.

Hernandez Reyes reportedly told the DOJ officials that he met Abrego Garcia in 2015, just three years after the latter man reportedly admitted to illegally entering the United States.

After they met in 2015, the prisoner reportedly admitted to DOJ officials that he paid Abrego Garcia to transport illegal immigrants from Texas to various destinations throughout the United States.

The Star was first to report that Abrego Garcia was stopped by THP in 2022, when he was transporting nine people without a valid license, and the agency later confirmed it was instructed to release Abrego Garcia by the “Biden-era FBI.” DHS has additionally confirmed that troopers suspected Abrego Garcia of human trafficking during the stop.

Abrego Garcia is an El Salvador citizen who was deported by the Trump administration to his homeland in March. He claimed that the deportation violated the final deportation order issued in his immigration case in 2019, which contained a “withholding of removal” that specifically forbade his deportation to one of two nations, either Guatemala or El Salvador.

Body-worn camera footage released by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to The Star last week revealed Abrego Garcia was carrying $1,400 in cash at the time of the arrest. Hernandez Reyes was convicted of charging passengers $350 for transportation from Texas to other parts of the country.

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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to pappert.tom@proton.me.

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