President Donald Trump said that Kilmar Abrego-Garcia holds an “unbelievably bad” record, following Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s Thursday visit to El Salvador to meet with the Maryland resident the Trump administration deported there.
When asked if Trump encouraged other Democrats to visit Kilmar Abrego-Garcia in El Salvador, Trump proceeded to blast the “fake” Democrats for not actually caring about Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally from El Salvador in 2011 and that the Trump administration has asserted is a member of the MS-13 gang.
“They’re all fake, and they have no interest in that prisoner,” Trump told reporters Friday at the White House following a swearing-in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicare and Medicaid services. “That prisoner’s record is unbelievably bad.”
KILMAR ABREGO-GARCIA SUSPECTED OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN REPORT OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS
President Donald Trump speaks as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from left, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Oz’s wife, Lisa, listen during a swearing in ceremony for Oz to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Trump administration deported Garcia, 29, to El Salvador in what it described in court filings as an “administrative error,” and has since said that it is up to El Salvador whether Garcia returns to the U.S. Meanwhile, a federal court and the Supreme Court have instructed the Trump administration to coordinate Garcia’s return so proper deportation hearings can occur.
The remarks come after the Justice Department unveiled documents Wednesday detailing domestic violence allegations that Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, included in a court filing in 2021. Vasquez alleged in the filing that Garcia beat her and that she had documentation of the bruises he left on her.
“At this point, I am afraid to be close to him,” she said, according to the filing. “I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he (has) left me.”
TRUMP CALLS SEN. VAN HOLLEN A ‘FOOL’ AFTER MEETING WITH DEPORTED MS-13 SUSPECT IN EL SALVADOR
Kilmar Abrego Garcia meets with Sen. Van Hollen (X / @nayibbukele)
Additionally, a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report obtained by Fox News claims that Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor and human trafficking. The report said that a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper pulled Garcia over in 2022 after swerving. The patrol officer found eight other individuals in the car with Garcia, who had just begun driving three days prior.
The officer originally believed the incident qualified as a human trafficking case because no luggage was found in the car, but the officer ultimately only wrote up Garcia for driving with an expired license.
The report also identified Garcia as a member of MS-13, a designated terrorist organization under the Trump administration.
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia was pulled over by Tennessee Highway Patrol in 2022, according to a DHS report obtained by Fox News. (Department of Homeland Security)
“Abrego Garcia is a MS-13 gang member, illegal alien from El Salvador, and suspected human trafficker,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. “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.”
“The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking,” McLaughlin said.
Meanwhile, Trump also has condemned Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, for even conducting the visit to El Salvador.
“Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account Friday.
Fox News’ David Spunt, Rachel Wolf and Greg Norman contributed to this report.
