Deported alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia was driving convicted smuggler's car during Tennessee traffic stop
Deported alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia was driving a convicted human smuggler's car when he was stopped by cops while transporting a group of men on a Tennessee highway in 2022, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Wednesday.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was pulled over by a Tennessee state trooper in 2022 for speeding, but when the cop stumbled upon the Salvadoran illegal migrant with eight others and no luggage amid their days-long trip from Texas to Maryland, he suspected something was amiss, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post last week.
At the time, the alleged gangbanger — who was deported by the Trump administration last month — claimed that the packed SUV was owned by 'his boss' at his construction job, who turned out to be Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, an illegal migrant previously convicted of smuggling others into the US, Just The News first reported.
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3 Kilmar Abrego Garcia meets with Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen in El Salvador as the Democrat advocates for his release from prison after he was deported by the Trump administration.
via REUTERS
DHS confirmed the validity of the report to The Post on Wednesday.
The responding officer wrote that he suspected it was 'a human trafficking incident' following the stop.
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But officers let Abrego Garcia go with a citation for driving with an expired license.
Abrego Garcia told the responding officer he was driving the black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban to Temple Hills, Maryland, 'to bring in people to perform construction work,' according to the previous memo.
Homeland Security officials found that the vehicle was owned by Hernandez Reyez, who they suspected had used the SUV for human trafficking or smuggling in separate cases, according to Just The News.
3 Kilmar Abrego Garcia is seen behind the wheel during the 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
DHS
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'Vehicle is used by HSI Baltimore target in human smuggling/trafficking operation. Vehicle makes trips to southern border to pick up non-citizens,' the record read, according to the outlet.
Hernandez Reyes pleaded guilty to smuggling and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2020 for smuggling other illegals from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, in a car he was driving through Mississippi.
Homeland Security officials reinstated his deportation order in March 2021 as the end of his sentence loomed.
Hernandez Reyes was stopped by cops in Jackson County, Mississippi, in 2019 while he was riding in the car with eight other illegal migrants, including three previously deported individuals from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, according to the Justice Department.
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Hernandez Reyes, along with his brother-in-law who was behind the wheel, smuggled illegal migrants to Houston, Texas, to other states, according to the DOJ.
The group was charged with illegal reentry into the US.
3 Mugshot of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from his March 2019 arrest in Maryland.
Department of Homeland Security
Abrego Garcia was deported last month to El Salvador's notorious megaprison with 260 other reputed gangbangers after President Trump invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the feds to remove them without a hearing.
But several federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have ordered the Trump administration to return the illegal migrant to the US after determining his deportation was the result of a 'clerical error.'
The Salvadoran citizen's lawyers argue their client has no criminal history to support his removal from the US.
Lawyers from the Justice Department argue they're complying with the court orders by removing any obstacles in the US that would prevent Abrego Garcia from coming back. However, they argue they can't force the Salvadoran government to return him.
Abrego Garcia was detained in Maryland in March 2019 after he was hanging out with MS-13 gangbangers in a Home Deport parking lot, according to documents released by the Department of Justice Wednesday.
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A 'past proven and reliable source' told a Hyattsville City Police Department detective at the time that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13's Western clique who carried the rank of 'Chequeo' and the moniker 'Chele,' according to a gang field interview sheet.
When he was detained, Abrego Garcia was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie with rolls of cash covering the eyes, ears and mouths of the presidents on the different denominations, which is 'indicative of the Hispanic gang culture.'
'Wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents that they are a member in good standing with the MS-13,' the police report read.
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ICE later took him into custody, but was halted from deporting the Salvadoran citizen after an immigration judge determined he was at risk of retaliation from MS-13's chief rival, Barrio 18.
Abrego Garcia was also previously accused of physically abusing his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who asked a Maryland court to grant her a protective order against her husband in 2021 after he allegedly punched, scratched, grabbed and bruised her, according to court documents.
Vasquez Sura, who is a US citizen, recently told The Post she was 'acting out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar … in case things escalated' after she survived domestic abuse 'in a previous relationship.'
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'Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,' she said.
'Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect.'
Abrego Garcia's alleged abuse 'is not justification for ICE's actions of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation,' she said.
'I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.'
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