Newly revealed abuse allegations fuel White House's resistance to return Abrego Garcia
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A protester holds a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia last week in New York. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The Trump administration's resolve to prevent Kilmar Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S. is stiffening amid newly released allegations that he abused his wife on several occasions, according to White House sources and court documents reviewed by Axios.
Why it matters: Garcia's mistaken deportation to a notorious El Salvador prison has become central to the legal and political fight over President Trump's immigration policy and due process for undocumented immigrants.
- The administration has defied a court order to return him to the U.S., calling the ruling judicial overreach that intrudes on Trump's powers to fight terrorism and carry out foreign policy.
Zoom in: Trump's team alleges that Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran national who entered the U.S. illegally in 2012 — was involved with the notorious MS-13 gang, though he's never been charged with a crime.
- Abrego Garcia was denied asylum in the U.S. The evidence for his transfer to a Salvadoran maximum-security prison revolved around his tattoos and clothing, an informant's claim, and his 2019 arrest alongside suspected MS-13 members in Maryland.
- In 2022, Abrego Garcia was stopped in Tennessee for speeding in a vehicle owned by a convicted human smuggler. Eight other people and no luggage were in the car, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
- He was suspected of human smuggling, but wasn't charged, and the FBI told state police to release him, according to the conservative Tennessee Star.
After Abrego Garcia was deported in mid-March, there were reports his wife had complained to police about domestic abuse.
- Unknown to the administration until this week: Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, actually had told local police in Maryland about a total of six instances of alleged abuse from 2019-2021, according to court documents filed when Vasquez Sura sought a protective order. (DHS released the documents Wednesday.)
- Vasquez Sura alleged that Abrego Garcia kicked, shoved, slapped, verbally abused her, detained her against her will and threatened to kill her in a dispute on Aug. 3, 2020.
- Abrego Garcia was never charged. Vasquez Sura now defends him as a good husband and father who's not involved with MS-13, and has been active is calling for the administration to return him to the U.S.
The White House, however, is signaling that it will use Vasquez Sura's old allegations to redefine Abrego Garcia's image as a victim of an overzealous deportation operation.
- "The media continues to call him a victim while ignoring the real victims: the women he battered, the children he terrorized, and the communities he endangered," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.
- "Let us be crystal clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never be on American streets again."
What they're saying: Abrego Garcia's lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said domestic abuse and human trafficking allegations aren't part of the case about his client's deportation.
- He emphasized that although reports on those incidents are now public, they haven't been entered into the official case filings.
- "If they want to put him on trial for that, they are welcome to bring him back and do so. We'll defend him in court," Sandoval-Moshenberg said in an email.
- Critics of the administration's policy and Abrego Garcia's supporters argue that due process applies to everyone in the U.S. — no matter their background or immigration status — and that he's entitled to have his case heard in court.
Catch up quick: Abrego Garcia's deportation case is unusually complex.
- He was illegally in the U.S. and eligible for deportation, but a judge in 2019 said he shouldn't be deported to El Salvador because he had a reasonable fear he would be hurt or killed by a Central American gang.
- On March 12, Abrego Garcia was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and soon after deported to El Salvador anyway.
- The administration admitted in court filings that the deportation was a mistake.
The intrigue: Trump, the administration and the U.S. Supreme Court have made the case even more confusing.
- On April 10, the high court ruled the administration had to "facilitate" the release of Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. But the court stopped short of ordering it to "effectuate" his return to the U.S., and kicked the case back to the lower court.
- On April 14, El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, met with Trump in the White House and told reporters he didn't have the power to "smuggle" Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.
- Then, in a Tuesday interview with ABC, Trump said he "could" get Abrego Garcia back.
- On Wednesday, the New York Times reported El Salvador "spurned" a U.S. diplomatic inquiry about freeing Abrego Garcia.
