Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wife shares message ahead of hearing: ‘Continue fighting … God is with us'
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, in black dress, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is embraced by friends and supporters before speaking at First Lutheran Church in Nashville before Abrego Garcia's June 13 arraignment on federal trafficking charges. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran native who was wrongfully deported to an El Salvador prison as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown — shared a message from him with a crowd gathered at a downtown Nashville church ahead of his arraignment Friday morning:
'Continue fighting, and I will be victorious because God is with us.'
About two blocks down the street, Abrego Garcia awaited his arraignment in federal court on criminal 'alien smuggling' charges and a hearing to determine whether he will continue to be detained until trial.
Speaking to a crowd of immigrant rights advocates, union leaders and clergy, Jennifer Vasquez Sura said Thursday marked exactly three months since 'the administration abducted and disappeared my husband and separated him from our family.'
It also marked the first time she was able to see him — albeit through a video screen.
Hundreds of miles away, their son, Kilmar Jr., was in Maryland at his kindergarten graduation, she said.
'Our family should have never been in this situation,' she said, her voice choking with emotion. 'We should be with our children. Me and Kilmar's mind is here in Tennessee, but my heart is in Maryland with my kids … My son is alone on his big day, and I'm here fighting for my husband, for his dad, to come back home.'
Abrego Garcia — a 29-year-old Salvadoran native living in Maryland, union sheet metal worker and father of three — was driving home with his five-year-old son when he was pulled over in March. He was detained and mistakenly deported to a notorious Salvadoran prison under allegations of membership in the MS-13 criminal gang. His family says they are false. A court order from 2019 expressly prohibited his deportation to El Salvador, where he fears persecution.
The El Salvador government returned Abrego Garcia to the United States in June to face a grand jury indictment in Tennessee for one count of 'conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain' and one count of 'unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain' between 2016 and 2025.
The indictment was issued May 21 but remained sealed until June 6.
The charges are tied to a traffic stop by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in November 2022, when Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding about 80 miles east of Nashville while driving an SUV with nine Hispanic men. No charges were filed at the time, but prosecutors now allege that the stop involved smuggling migrants within the United States.
Vasquez Sura said Abrego Garcia spoke of faith and gratitude.
'To everyone who continues to support Kilmar and the fight for justice, Kilmar says, 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart. God has put us in this path together for a reason. He knows why He does it and what He does, and there's always a reason we have all come together at this moment,' Vasquez Sura said.
'Kilmar shares that he feels God's presence with him, as only God knows the darkness he has faced in these past three months,' she said.
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