Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported Salvadorian migrant, is at the center of a significant legal case involving the Trump administration. He has been alleged to be an active MS-13 gang member and accused of domestic violence.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported from Maryland to El Salvador by the Trump administration on March 15 over connections to the violent MS-13 gang.
Following his deportation, which the Trump administration has acknowledged as an ‘administrative error,’ Democrats have been advocating for his release by referring to him as the ‘Maryland father.’ They argue that his removal from the U.S. was unlawful and that he is not affiliated with the cartel.
However, documents unveiled by Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday reveal that Maryland police, in a report from 2019, indicated their belief that the Salvadorian individual was actively involved with the gang.
During the interaction, authorities found Abrego Garcia alongside other MS-13 members outside of a Home Depot in Maryland. At the time, he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie, which police say is indicative of gang activity.
The associates he was with were confirmed MS-13 members and one of them even discarded two containers of cannabis once they saw authorities approaching, according to the report.
‘Officers know such clothing to be indicative of the Hispanic gang culture,’ a gang interview sheet from the Prince George’s County Police Department stated.
‘Wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents [that] they are a member in good standing with the MS-13.’
Upon further investigation, Prince George’s County police determined Abrego Garcia was an active member of the cartel.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador
Jennifer Vasquez, the wife of Kilmer Abrego Garcia, speaks at a press conference on Tuesday
Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaks to the media during a visit to El Salvador to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deported without due process by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as an alleged MS-13 gang member and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), in San Salvador, El Salvador, April 16, 2025
‘Officers contacted a past proven and reliable source of [information], who advised Kilmar Armando Abrego-Garcia is an active member of MS-13 with the Westerns clique,’ the PGPD wrote. ‘The confidential source further advised that he is the rank of ‘Chequeo’ with the moniker of ‘Chele.’
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also tore into Abrego Garcia during a press briefing on Wednesday.
‘Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his home country,’ she told reporters.
‘So not only are Democrats rushing to defend an illegal, criminal, foreign terrorist gang member, but also an apparent woman beater,’ she added.
‘If he ever ends up back in the United States, he would immediately be deported again.’
The new documents shed light on the migrant’s past as Democratic lawmakers work to ‘rescue’ the migrant from El Salvador’s most notorious prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT.
For example, in a stunt meant to draw attention to Abrego Garcia’s detention, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday to advocate for the man’s release.
Leavitt was joined at the briefing by ‘special guest’ Patty Morin, the mother of slain Maryland mother Rachel Morin, who was raped and murdered by a Salvadorian illegal alien in 2023.
Morin slammed Van Hollen at the briefing Wednesday for caring more about Abrego Garcia than her slain daughter, calling him ‘a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge – or barely acknowledged my daughter.’
The mother also derided the Democrat for spending ‘money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person some who isn’t even an American citizen.’
Further, on the same day of Van Hollen’s Wednesday trip, new allegations came to light that Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, requested a protective order against her husband in 2021, indicating that Abrego Garcia allegedly has a violent past.
‘Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as,’ The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted on X alongside court documents filed by Vasquez.
‘This MS-13 gang member is not a sympathetic figure.’
The court documents posted on the DHS X account do include allegations that Abrego Garcia punched, scratched and bruised his wife.
The temporary protective order was deemed credible and was signed off on by Maryland Judge Lakeecia Renee Allen, the forms show.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Abrego Garcia had two domestic violence incidents with his wife in 2021
In this undated photo provided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in April 2025, a man identified by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is forced to sit with other prisoners by guards in the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador
Immediately after the temporary restraining order against Abrego Garcia came to light social media lit up with criticism slamming Democrats for supporting a ‘wife-beater.’
‘The accused MS-13 member that Cory Booker and other elected Democrats are demanding be released from El Salvador, is accused of assaulting his wife,’ Trending Politics co-owner Colin Rugg posted on X.
‘Imagine flying to El Salvador to demand the release of an alleged wife-beater who isn’t even a citizen,’ he added.
Author and journalist Andy Ngo first posted about the court filings on X.
‘The wife of deported suspected gang terrorist Kilmar Abrego Garcia either lied to the court when she petitioned for a domestic violence protective order against him or she is lying now on the GoFundMe claiming he is an excellent husband as over $162K has poured in,’ he wrote Tuesday evening.
