President Donald Trump in the Oval Office holding a photo of the tattoos on Abrego Garcia's knuckles that the White House says are affiliated with the MS-13 terrorist group. (Donald Trump TRUTH Social)
Democrats and the media had characterized Abrego Garcia as a "family man" and a "Maryland man" who was wrongly deported back in March and the following weeks.
Van Hollen met last month with Abrego Garcia and advocated for his release, declaring that the deportation risks "the constitutional rights of everyone who resides in the United States of America." Van Hollen's trip sparked other left-wing lawmakers to also make the trip south, including Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California last month. At one point, Dexter pledged to remain in El Salvador until Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S.
But Democrats have gone largely silent amid a flood of newly unearthed evidence against Abrego Garcia.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia traffic stop (Tennessee Highway Patrol)
Vasquez Sura said that while she was trying to escape Abrego Garcia, she saw a neighbor walking their dog and screamed "help." Vasquez Sura said Abrego Garcia then "grabbed me from my hair, and then he slapped me."
Vasquez Sura asked for the petition to be rescinded, however, saying her family wanted to take part in their son's birthday, and Abrego Garcia "also agreed to continue counseling and if not [he's] willing to sign divorce papers."
The 2020 protective order is the second publicly-known order filed against Abrego Garcia. Vasquez Sura filed a separate protective request against her husband in 2021, accusing him of repeatedly hitting her.
"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," she told a Prince George’s County, Maryland, court, Fox Digital previously reported.
"In November 2020, he hit me with his work boot," she added of the alleged attacks. "In August 2020, he hit me in the eye leaving a purple eye."
His wife, however, has since publicly defended him and addressed the domestic violence allegations following the revelation of the first protective order request.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters at the White House. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Abrego Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report previously 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 Trump has designated as a terror organization.
Abrego Garcia was pulled over by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper on Dec. 1, 2022, after he spotted the car speeding and not remaining in its lane, according to the Homeland Security Investigations report.
The trooper noticed eight individuals in the car with Abrego Garcia, who said he had begun driving three days prior from Houston to Temple Hills, Maryland, via St. Louis to "perform construction work," Fox Digital previously reported. The report states that the trooper suspected the group was involved with a human trafficking incident, as there was no luggage in the vehicle.
Documents further revealed that Abrego Garcia was driving a black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban that he said belonged to his "boss." The Suburban was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as belonging to Hernandez Reyes, who pleaded guilty to human smuggling after being caught in Mississippi in a car with passengers from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, Fox Digital previously reported.
Body camera video, obtained by Fox News Digital through a public records request last week, showed the Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers pulling over Abrego Garcia, who had eight other individuals in his car.
"How many rows have you got in here? Four seats? Four rows of seats?" a state trooper can be heard saying in the video. "Did y'all put an extra one in? Huh? Did yall put another one in no? They come like this I've never seen one with that many seats in it."
Abrego Garcia's legal team responded to the new bodycam footage in a comment to Fox Digital on Sunday, saying it did not constitute evidence of a crime.
"I have represented Kilmar Abrego Garcia for more than a month, and this bodycam video is the first time I’ve heard his voice. He has been denied the most basic protections of due process—no phone call to his lawyer, no call to his wife or child, and no opportunity to be heard," Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the lead attorney for the case.
"As an attorney, I see no evidence of a crime in this footage. But the point is not the traffic stop—it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court. Bring him back to the United States, return him before the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, and let him speak for himself," Sandoval-Moshenberg continued.
Gang members in a cell at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca, in San Vicente, El Salvador on April 4, 2025. ((Photo by Alex Pena/Anadolu via Getty Images))
"He's hauling these people for money," one state trooper said.
The Homeland Security Investigations report also notes that in October 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit identified Abrego Garcia as a member of MS-13.
NEW AUDIO REVEALS ABREGO GARCIA’S ALLEGED ABUSE OF HIS WIFE
The deportation has been wrapped up in court proceedings since March, with a Maryland federal judge ordering the Department of Justice to "take all available steps to facilitate" his return to the U.S., which was a ruling upheld by an appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Trump administration, however, contends that it "cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations" with El Salvador to secure the release.
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"The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding," Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in the Trump administration’s Supreme Court petition last month, the New York Post reported.
Fox News' Stepheny Price, Peter Pinedo, Michael Dorgan and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-immigration-narrative-backed-corner-violent-evidence-mounts-against-abrego-garcia