Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, was pulled over in 2022 for speeding and questioned about transporting a group of men.

Scripps News obtained video of the traffic stop, which shows Abrego Garcia telling a Tennessee state trooper that he was taking the men to a construction site in St. Louis, Missouri.

"You've got a bunch of people here, don't you?" the trooper says in the footage. Abrego Garcia replies that he is driving the men to work.

Another trooper is then seen telling the first trooper that he believes Abrego Garcia is transporting the individuals for money.

Theres eight people in there, right? the trooper says. They dont have any luggage in there, right? If you get them out, theyre going to have toothpaste and toothbrushes in the pockets.

One of the troopers ran Abrego Garcias drivers license and discussed detaining him, but ultimately let him go with a warning for speeding.

Abrego Garcias wife has said her husband would often drive people from one job site to another, disputing allegations that he was doing anything illegal.

Originally from El Salvador, Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland with his wife and three children before he was deported in Marchdespite a court order at the time that barred his removal.

The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that the government must facilitate his return.

However, Abrego Garcia remains in El Salvador. The Trump administration has portrayed him as a violent gang member and human trafficker claims his supporters deny. They argue he should be allowed to return to the U.S., where any allegations can be addressed in a court of law.

Legal analysis: What the Kilmar Abrego Garcia traffic stop video means for his case

A pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants helped propel President Donald Trump back to the White House.

"It's going to be called a Trump mass deportation," Trump said during a campaign rally on Aug. 12, 2024. "We will begin the largest deportation operation in American history."

He appointed a border czar, Tom Homan, to increase expulsions.

"I will run the biggest deportation operation the country has ever seen," said Homan, a week after Trump won the election.

The Trump administration has embraced a shock and awe approach to immigration enforcement designed for maximum publicity. The homeland security secretary has attended and posted video of early morning arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trump has deployed more armed forces to the border and used military planes to ferry away immigrants. He has also sent alleged Venezuelan gang members to a terrorism prison in El Salvador before they could have a day in court.

But federal data shows there has not been a significant jump in immigrants deported since Trump took office. Mass deportations have not occurred. The numbers show removals are lagging behind levels during the Biden administration.

"Frankly I was shocked," said Sue Long, co-founder of the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse that tracks immigration statistics at Syracuse University.

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Early on the Trump administration touted the number of daily immigration arrests but has never shared detailed deportation figures.

Long was able to calculate recent deportation figures using a cumulative number deep inside a spreadsheet ICE is required by law to keep updated for Congress.

"They're lower," Long said. "Their daily average is simply 10 percent lower."

The White House told Scripps News that because border crossings are down, so are deportations. It is an argument Homan also makes.

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"We're down border crossings 96 percent, so we don't have millions of people coming across the border," Homan told reporters at the White House. "Just to compare our removal numbers to (Biden's) is just ridiculous."

Homan also told the New York Times, "We need to increase the arrests ... They're not high enough."

There are still an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

Homan says more funding from Congress would boost immigration enforcement efforts. Costs are high to arrange and transport individuals out of the U.S. to their home countries. Logistics are another challenge, as countries must agree to receive deported immigrants.

Two men who appeared to be federal immigration officials shattered a driver-side window of a car driven by a woman from El Salvador, who they then arrested in an encounter filmed by the woman's daughter.

Elsy Berrios was taken into custody in Westminster, Maryland, on March 31, according to The Baltimore Sun.

"She doesn't have legal status but she is seeking asylum," her attorney, Anna Tijerina, told Scripps News.

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The men in the video do not identify themselves. One is wearing a mask. The other man has a vest that says "federal police."

The officer who puts Berrios in handcuffs is seen telling her to be careful getting out of the car because of the glass from the broken window.

Both men ignore Berrios as she says she would like to speak to an attorney, and they do not respond to her request to see an arrest warrant. ICE policies say a warrant does not always have to be shown before an arrest if the apprehension occurs in a public place. Berrios was arrested on a public street.

ICE did not immediately respond to questions about the arrest.

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The video is another example of the force the federal government is using all over the country under President Donald Trump to arrest immigrants even when they are not an imminent threat.

Berrios is being held in a Pennsylvania detention center and has a bond hearing on Monday, Tejerina said.

"She doesn't have any criminal history and she doesn't have any criminal convictions, not here or in El Salvador," Tejerina said.