Police records destroy media narrative about ‘wrongly deported’ Maryland migrant

The Department of Homeland Security has released court records it says definitively prove Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a member of the infamous MS-13 gang. This comes as Democrats clamor for the return of Abrego Garcia, who they say was "wrongly deported" to a maximum-security prison in his home country as part of the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on illegal migrant crime. 

According to a Prince George's County, Maryland, Police Department interview sheet shared with Fox News by DHS, local police discovered Abrego Garcia during a murder investigation. Police found him loitering in a Home Depot parking lot with other known MS-13 gang members in possession of illicit drugs in 2019. 

Prince George's County Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad conducted an interview with Abrego Garcia and contacted a "past proven and reliable source" who identified him as an active member of MS-13 with the "Westerns" clique, with the rank of "Chequeo" and the moniker of "Chele."

Additionally, publicly available court records filed against Abrego Garcia cast further doubt on the Democrats' narrative about his innocence.

WE DON'T WANT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA BACK, SAYS AG PAM BONDI 

Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to a controversial mega prison, the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, in March along with several hundred other alleged gang members living in the U.S. Though he was deported for being an alleged MS-13 gang member, his attorneys maintain he was living in the U.S. legally and does not have any gang ties.

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision ordering the Trump administration to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return. The court required the "government to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador." 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is "up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That's not up to us." 

This has caused outrage among Democrats, many of whom have begun referring to him as a "Maryland man" who was wrongly deported. Some have even suggested he was kidnapped by the Trump administration.

LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS

"Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador as part of the Trump Administration’s government-funded kidnapping rampage," Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., posted on X. "He is rotting away in a foreign prison where his life is in danger. We need to go there now to make sure he’s okay."

On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., flew to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia in prison and work to secure his release. His trip has been criticized by many, including the mother of Rachel Morrin, a 39-year-old Maryland mother who was raped and murdered by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant in 2023. 

"To have a senator from Maryland who didn't even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grandbaby without a grandmother so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that's not even an American citizen. Why does that person have more rights than I do, or my daughter, or my grandchildren? I don't understand this," she said. 

Through it all, the Trump administration continues to maintain it was right to deport Abrego Garcia to CECOT.

KRISTI NOEM CRITICIZES 'LIBERAL LEFT' FOR TURNING ACCUSED GANG MEMBER INTO 'MEDIA DARLING'

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down, saying Abrego Garcia has a "history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as."

DHS shared court filings in which Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he "punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt."

And a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News shows Abrego Garcia admitted to being in the U.S. illegally and claimed to have "walked across the desert for many days entering illegally into the United States near McAllen, Texas on or about March 25, 2012." 

As a result, Abrego Garcia was marked as eligible for deportation in 2019. 

A federal immigration court in Baltimore further determined Abrego Garcia was not eligible for release because he "failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others, as the evidence shows that he is a verified member of MS-13."

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR 'END OF THE STORY'

The court held that "the fact that a ‘past, proven, and reliable source of infonnation [sic]’ verified the Respondent's gang membership, rank, and gang name is sufficient to support that the Respondent is a gang member" and that Abrego had "failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion."

"Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not a ‘Maryland Man’—he is an MS-13 gang member involved in human trafficking who entered the United States illegally," DHS posted on X. "His deportation to El Salvador was always going to be the end result."

DHS bashed Van Hollen for advocating Abrego Garcia’s release, saying the senator "has done more to bring a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland than he has to help keep his American constituents safe or advocate for the victims of these vicious gangs like MS-13."

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"While Sen. Van Hollen and the mainstream media peddle a sob story about a brutal MS-13 gang member, Secretary Noem stands with the victims of illegal alien crime," said DHS. "We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals' sob stories and not enough about their victims."

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted some more details about his arrest, saying, in addition to being apprehended with other MS-13 members, he was found with "rolls of cash and drugs" and "wearing what is effectively MS-13’s uniform."

Speaking with Fox News on Monday, McLaughlin said Abrego Garcia is "exactly where he belongs, home in El Salvador."

"The media would love for you to believe that this is some media darling, that he is just some Maryland father, but Osama bin Laden was also a father, and yet he wasn’t a good guy, and they are actually both terrorists," she added. "He should be in this El Salvador prison, prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there."