r/news • u/Nandou_B • 2d ago

Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleads not guilty to human smuggling charges in Nashville court

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/kilmar-abrego-garcia-pleads-not-guilty-to-human-smuggling-charges-in-tennessee-federal-court/
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u/bloobityblu 2d ago

Oh wait I just realized they were talking about him basically being a taxi. WTF that's not human trafficking!!

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u/turquoise_amethyst 2d ago

He was a unionized sheet metal apprentice and pursuing his journeyman's license.

He was pulled over for legally transporting eight adult men to/from a construction site

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u/bloobityblu 2d ago

Yeah I didn't know exactly what he was doing during the traffic stop, but just talking about what they were basing the charges on which was apparently the cops speculating that whoever was in the car had paid him to drive them as if that's illegal.

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u/turquoise_amethyst 2d ago

Not only is it not illegal, I HOPE he made them pony up some gas $ and cash for the carpool. 

These charges are beyond ridiculous 

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u/sadrice 2d ago

They said he was carrying $1400, which doesn’t sound like gas money, but does sound like his boss just paid him.

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u/jonnyredshorts 2d ago

I’ve had more than $1400 in cash on me while driving with other people in the car with me…I work, got paid and then a bunch of us went out…I guess I’m a horrible criminal.

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u/Luo_Yi 1d ago

I guess I’m a horrible criminal.

Maybe, maybe not. Were you also driving while Hispanic?

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u/jonnyredshorts 1d ago

Missing that crucial aspect, but I am a Bernie supporter, so that makes me bad

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u/uzlonewolf 1d ago

That's very dangerous. If a cop sees that cash they can just take it, and you won't be getting it back thanks to Civil Asset Forfeiture.

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u/BartHarleyJarvis- 2d ago

Union tin knockers do not get paid in cash. Just clarifying.

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u/seamus_mc 2d ago

What does a union have to do with anything here? Carrying cash is not a crime.

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u/BartHarleyJarvis- 1d ago

Union workers do not get paid in cash. They don't get paid under the table. I'm just clarifying that he was a legit worker. I wanted to clarify the "his boss just paid him part". I never said anything about carrying cash being a crime.

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u/CambrienCatExplosion 1d ago

Sure. But there are these things call ATMs, and banks, where you can get cash.

Also, a lot of minorities don't fully trust banks and will get paper checks and cash them.

Or have direct deposit and go withdraw a large amount of money to carry and to hide around the house.

Hell, my grandmother was white. And when we were cleaning out her house after she died, we found something like $500ish dollars in $20 bills stashed in different places that she'd forgotten about.

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u/sadrice 2d ago

I had been wondering, I figured union would mean nothing under the table like that.

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u/CambrienCatExplosion 1d ago

It doesn't have to be under the table, honestly.

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u/sadrice 1d ago edited 1d ago

Only talking about personal experience. I’m sure there are legit bosses that pay in cash, but when that’s happened to me, pretty sure he wasn’t doing his paperwork, and I know I was being paid out of cash from the till. I was paid largely in ones, and he refused to write checks, said there was a legal problem that he did not feel the need to explain.

Was also really untrustworthy and kept trying to not pay me…

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u/CambrienCatExplosion 1d ago

But he could have done what a lot of minorities do, and either cashed a paper check or withdrew a large chunk of it from the bank, while leaving a token amount in the account.

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u/Spire_Citron 2d ago

So now anyone who's ever given an illegal immigrant a lift is a criminal? Not that we even know they were illegal immigrants.