Kilmar Abrego-Garcia suspected of human trafficking in report obtained by Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, who was recently deported to El Salvador, was suspected of partaking in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) report obtained by Fox News. The report also stated that “official law enforcement investigations” revealed that Abrego-Garcia was a member of the notorious gang MS-13, which President Donald Trump has designated as a terror organization.

According to the report, on Dec. 1, 2022, a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper stopped Garcia after he was “observed speeding” and unable to stay in his lane. The trooper noticed eight individuals in the car with Abrego-Garcia, who said he began driving three days prior from Houston, Texas, to Temple Hills, Md., via St. Louis, Mo. to “perform construction work.” The report states that the trooper suspected it was a human trafficking incident, as there was no luggage in the vehicle. Additionally, the individuals in the car reportedly gave the same address as Abrego-Garica’s home address.

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When speaking with the trooper, Abrego-Garcia allegedly “pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions.” After the incident, the officer decided not to give Abrego-Garcia a citation for the driving infractions, but rather to give him a warning for driving with an expired license. 

The HSI report also notes that in October 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit identified Abrego-Garcia as a member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.

“Abrego Garcia is a MS-13 gang member, illegal alien from El Salvador, and suspected human trafficker. The facts reveal he was pulled over with eight individuals in a car on an admitted three-day journey from Texas to Maryland with no luggage,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. “The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking. The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart. We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

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Abrego-Garcia was also recently revealed to have a record of being a “violent” repeat wife beater, according to court records filed in a Prince George’s County, Md., district court by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez.

In the 2021 filing, written in Vasquez’s own handwriting, she alleges Abrego Garcia repeatedly beat her, writing: “At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me.”

Abrego-Garica’s deportation has caused uproar among Democrats, many of whom have referred to him as a wrongfully deported “Maryland man.” He has been held in El Salvador’s megaprison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT).

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., flew to El Salvador where he met with Abrego-Garcia, and was mocked by Trump for being a “fool.” Other Democrat lawmakers reportedly made plans to visit Abrego-Garcia after Van Hollen’s announcement.

The White House has not held back in its criticisms of Van Hollen’s visit. On Friday, the White House tweeted side-by-side photos of Trump meeting with the mother of Rachel Morin, who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2023, and Van Hollen sitting with Abrego-Garcia with the caption “We are not the same.”

Rachel Morin was a Maryland resident, as is her mother, Patty, who said that Van Hollen had not reached out to her since her daughter was murdered.