Trump administration shares second abuse claim by Abrego Garcia's wife
The Trump administration has revealed a second allegation of domestic abuse against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran immigrant mistakenly deported in March.
In an August 2020 filing, the Maryland father's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said Abrego Garcia had kicked and slapped her, as well as verbally abused her. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said this showed it was right to have deported him, despite a court order blocking the move in 2019.
Vasquez Sura has made repeated pleas for her husband's return from El Salvador's CECOT prison and previously said they had worked on their issues through therapy.
Newsweek reached out to Abrego Garcia's legal team for comment via email Thursday morning.
Why It Matters
At DHS' own admission, Abrego Garcia was removed due to an "administrative error" and the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the administration facilitate efforts to return him. Despite this, the White House has continued to say that he is a member of the MS-13 gang and has looked to present evidence justifying his deportation.
The deportation and the debate over his return has served as a key inflection point as President Donald Trump rolls out his immigration policies. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador for a highly publicized meeting with Abrego Garcia and has called for him to receive due process.
What To Know
The August 3, 2020, filing shared by DHS on Wednesday outlines multiple allegations of abuse by Abrego Garcia against his wife and her three children in 2019 and 2020. She told police that he had detained her against her will and threatened to kill her during one instance.
"I try to go back to the basement and he had locked 2 of my kids in the room, and the baby was sleep in the crib," the handwritten statement read. "I could hear them crying. I looked for help but no one was home."
In another incident, in December 2019, Vasquez Sura alleged that Abrego Garcia grabbed her hair while in a car and dragged her out of it, leaving her behind in the street. At another point, she said he broke her son's tablet and doors in their house.
This filing came before another from 2021, in which Vasquez Sura said her husband physically attacked her. That document was released in mid-April, but she told Newsweek that the marriage grew stronger following these incidents, working together as a family and with the help of counseling. Criminal charges were not filed.
DHS released the document unredacted, including the names of Vasquez's children, as well as their address. It has so far not been submitted to the U.S. District Court in Maryland which has been hearing the case challenging Abrego Garcia's removal, but DHS said Wednesday that Abrego Garcia did not belong in the U.S.
Alleged domestic abuse was not the grounds for Abrego Garcia's original U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention in 2019. The agency arrested him when local police in Maryland said they had determined he was a MS-13 member, based off his clothing and an anonymous tip-off. The administration has still not provided more evidence in court on Abrego Garcia's gang affiliation.
Abrego Garcia, now 29, arrived in the U.S. illegally in his late teens, having fled El Salvador due to fears of violence from the Barrio 18 gang. It was for this reason that an immigration judge ordered that he was able to be deported, but that ICE could not send him back to his home country, effectively allowing him to remain in the U.S.
In March, DHS agents arrested Abrego Garcia and took him to Louisiana. He was then placed on a removal flight to El Salvador, under the Alien Enemies Act, when other immigrants were taken off the planes. Over 200 individuals were deported that day, ahead of a court order blocking their expedited removal.
Vasquez Sura and her husband's attorneys have since been fighting to get him back from the CECOT prison, with a U.S. District Court and then the Supreme Court ordering the administration to facilitate that.
The White House has insisted that returning Abrego Garcia is a decision to be made by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Trump said in an interview with ABC on Tuesday that he "could" bring Abrego Garcia back, but left the decision up to the El Salvadoran president.
What People Are Saying
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a press release: "The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children. He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug. We have now found two petitions for protection against him, in addition to the fact that he entered the country illegally and is a confirmed member of MS-13. Our country is safer with him gone."
Vasquez Sura, in a statement to Newsweek on April 16: "No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. But that is not a justification for ICE's action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from removal. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in the Oval Office April 14: "The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the President of the United States, not by a court."
What Happens Next
Abrego Garcia remains in El Salvador, although it was understood he had been moved from CECOT. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Wednesday that the administration needed to resume updates on efforts to return him to the U.S. and present officials in court next week.