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New York Post
02-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wife once begged judge for protection from him after repeated alleged abuse, chilling audio reveals
The wife of alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia once pleaded with a Maryland judge for protection from her husband, citing multiple examples of domestic abuse, according to an unearthed audio recording obtained by USA Today. Jennifer Vasquez Sura has repeatedly defended her husband's innocence after the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador over his alleged gang ties but acknowledged making a 'clerical error' in his removal from the US. In the newly-surfaced audio from 2020, Vasquez Sura could be heard outlining several instances of physical abuse by Abrego Garcia that resulted in her making 'a lot of police reports' and suffering 'bruises' from his alleged beatings. 3 Kilmar Abrego Garcia was placed in megaprison CECOT before being moved to a lower-security facility earlier this month. via REUTERS 3 The wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, speaks to protesters near the White House. AFP via Getty Images She said she had already made one attempt to obtain a protective order against Abrego Garcia, but was stopped 'because his family like washed my brain, telling me that his dad was sick and not to do it.' Vasquez Sura also shared that, in one instance, Abrego Garcia 'pushed' her as she tried to enter the basement of their home, forcing her to call 911 and cry for help from a neighbor. She said police took 'a long time to get to the house — it was probably like 20, 30 minutes.' 'So I saw a neighbor walking his dog and I opened the door and I was like 'help.' And then when he heard me, like, [Abrego Garcia] grabbed me from my hair, and then he slapped me. And then the neighbor, like, he didn't know what to do,' she added. Vasquez Sura said Abrego Garcia 'hit me' earlier that week 'around like three in the morning' and did so on several other occasions. 'He would just wake up and like hit me. And then last Saturday for my daughter's birthday party, before I went to my daughter's birthday party, he slapped me three times and then last week, I did call the police. My sister called the police because he hit me in front of my sister,' she said. In response to the audio clip resurfacing, Vasquez Sura told USA Today that 'neither' she nor Abrego Garcia 'were in a good place at the time.' 3 This undated photo provided by CASA shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. AP 'I previously acknowledged the protection order and will again address a personal and painful part of mine and Kilmar's life,' said Vasquez Sura. She went on to say Abrego Garcia 'was traumatized from the time he spent in ICE detention, and we were in the throes of COVID.' 'Like many couples, we were caring for our children with barely enough to get by. All of those factors contributed to the actions which caused me to seek the protective order,' she added. Vasquez Sura applied for a protective order from her husband in 2020 with the District Court of Maryland for Prince George's County. The order said he once boasted he could kill his wife and 'no one could do anything to him.' The newly surfaced document preceded a 2021 protective order request she filed against her husband. In that document she alleged he had punched, scratched and grabbed her — with some of the alleged abuse so severe, she was left with bruises and bleeding.
USA Today
02-05-2025
- USA Today
Audio: Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wife asked judge for protection from domestic abuse
Audio: Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wife asked judge for protection from domestic abuse Officials have recently turned to releasing information about his alleged domestic abuse. The audio file is from one of those court hearings. Show Caption Hide Caption Wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia sought protection order in 2020 Audio depicts Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, pleading with a judge for temporary protection from her husband in 2020. Audio obtained by USA TODAY from a 2020 court hearing in Maryland shows Jennifer Vasquez Sura pleading with a judge for temporary protection from her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the wrongfully deported Salvadoran migrant at the center of a deportation storm. Abrego Garcia 'grabbed me from my hair, and then he slapped me,' Vasquez Sura said in her 2020 testimony to a judge. For weeks, the White House and Homeland Security officials have defended deporting the 29-year-old Maryland father to a Salvadoran prison, after acknowledging in court that it was done in error and against an immigration judge's court order. The Trump administration insists he is a member of the MS-13 gang, but a federal judge has questioned the strength of the government's evidence. Abrego Garcia denies being a gang member and has no criminal convictions. Officials have recently turned to releasing information about his alleged domestic abuse. The audio file is from one of those court hearings. "Recently an audio clip of a civil court hearing related to the protection order I filed became public. I previously acknowledged the protection order and will again address a personal and painful part of mine and Kilmar's life. Neither of us were in a good place at that time," Vasquez Sura told USA TODAY in a May 1 statement. She added: "My husband was traumatized from the time he spent in ICE detention and we were in the throes of COVID. Like many couples, we were caring for our children with barely enough to get by. All of those factors contributed to the actions which caused me to seek the protective order." Judicial testimony describes alleged abuse On April 16, DHS officials distributed a restraining order petition from 2021. On April 30, a 2020 petition to a Maryland court was released by DHS depicting more allegations of violence against Abrego Garcia. In the August 2020 recording before Judge Ada Clark-Edwards, Vasquez Sura describes in detail how Abrego Garcia was detained and in ICE custody through her 2019 pregnancy but returned home a changed person. 'Once he came out, maybe like a month after he was out, he changed a lot with me and my kids,' Vasquez Sura told the judge. 'He would yell at them, yell at me for anything, and any little thing.'' In 2021, Vasquez Sura filed for a protection order a second time, citing instances of violence in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Abrego Garcia 'punched and scratched' Vasquez Sura, ripped off her shirt and grabbed and bruised her, she said in 2021. Police never charged Abrego Garcia with domestic violence. Supreme Court battle Abrego Garcia, a Maryland sheet metal worker, was pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while driving with his 5-year-old son on March 12. Three days later, he was deported to a prison for terrorists in his native El Salvador. In 2019, an immigration judge ruled Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador because he had a 'well-grounded fear of future persecution.' A U.S. district judge ordered the Trump administration to return him. The U.S. Supreme Court pared down that order, ordering the administration to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's release. Abrego Garcia: A popular cause Abrego Garcia's wrongful deportation and the administration's refusal to return him to the U.S. have made him a focal point for opposition to the Trump administration's program of mass deportations. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, and several Democratic members of the House of Representatives also went to El Salvador to push for his release. On May 1, Sens. Van Hollen, Tim Kaine, D-Va., Alex Padilla, D-Ca., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced they would file a resolution to require the State Department to issue a report on El Salvador's human rights record. At a press conference announcing the move, Van Hollen said his support for Abrego Garcia is about due process and the Supreme Court's order to facilitate his return. 'We're not vouching for Kilmar Abrego Garcia,' Van Hollen said. 'We're vouching for his constitutional rights because if you trample over his constitutional rights, you threaten them for every American and everyone who resides in America.' DHS: 'Violent illegal alien' DHS officials used the newly surfaced allegations as more reason to bolster their deportation claims. '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,' Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. '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," McLaughlin said. "Our country is safer with him gone.' U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland has refuted evidence submitted by the government that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang. 'No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect," Vasquz Sura said in her statement. "I never imagined the lowest moment in our relationship would be weaponized to demonize my husband's character, or used as a justification to violate his legal rights or defy the courts." "Kilmar is a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him, fight for justice, and demand his return to the family that loves him," she said.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates for immigrant victims of domestic violence condemn White House ‘political theater'
The White House has 'weaponized' an accusation of domestic violence in the case of a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, and in the process, forced his wife and her children into hiding, a national network of advocates for immigrant victims of domestic violence argued in a letter Thursday. The Alliance for Immigrant Survivors said that it supports Jennifer Vasquez Sura's campaign to see her husband returned to the United States, and argued that the Trump administration's decision to disseminate a petition for a protective order filed by Vasquez Sura against Kilmar Abrego Garcia has turned her experience of domestic violence into 'political theater' at her own expense. Abrego Garcia, whose detention and arrest have captured national attention and become a rallying cry among Democrats for immigrants' due process rights, remains in El Salvador. The Trump administration and federal courts are caught in a standoff over the case after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate his return. His wife, Vasquez Sura, has become one of his most visible advocates. 'Let us be clear: Our movement does not advocate for the erosion of due process or the mass expulsion of immigrants as a solution to violence against women in this country. This is not what makes communities safer,' letter reads. The alliance is responsible for helping craft immigration policy proposals for the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. Advocates argue that the Trump administration's decision to use the protective order in its case against Abrego Garcia's return could have broader consequences for the movement to end gender-based violence. 'Politicizing their pain sends the message to survivors that seeking help could have tremendous negative consequences far beyond their control. This makes survivors far less likely to come forward to report crime and get help,' the letter reads. Vasquez Sura told The Washington Post that she and her children had gone into hiding and were living in a safe house after the Trump administration disseminated the family's home address on social media. Their Maryland address was not redacted when the White House shared a copy of a temporary protection order Vasquez Sura had filed after an incident of domestic violence in June 2021. According to the petition, the filing stemmed from an argument in the couple's car, during which Vasquez Sura's husband became angry, eventually striking her. The incident left her with bruises, a scratch above her eye and a ripped shirt. The order was dismissed a month later after Vasquez Sura failed to appear in court. 'We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,' Vasquez Sura said in a statement shared by her attorney with news outlets. 'Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.' Abrego Garcia was detained and deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador last month, a move that the Trump administration initially said was due to an 'administrative error.' In the weeks that followed, the White House and President Donald Trump himself have deployed a messaging campaign alleging that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 Salvadoran gang, and that returning him to the country would hurt public safety. Abrego Garcia, who was removed within three days of being detained without a hearing, has never been convicted of, or charged with, being a member of a gang. The protective order petition became part of the White House's argument, too. The Department of Homeland Security shared a copy of the petition on the social network X; it had been viewed 4.3 million times as of late Thursday. During a White House briefing April 16, press secretary Karoline Leavitt waved court documents and called Abrego Garcia an 'alleged woman beater.' In an interview published Friday, Trump told TIME Magazine that he wasn't convinced the Supreme Court had ordered Abrego Garcia's return — 'I leave that to my lawyers,' he said — and added that Abrego Garcia 'wasn't a saint. He was MS-13. He was a wife beater and he had a lot of things that were very bad, you know, very, very bad.' The Alliance said the administration's actions do not 'demonstrate a serious commitment to ending violence against women.' 'Survivors deserve control over their own destinies, not the exploitation of their families and private lives to serve political goals,' the letter argued. Since Trump took office, the actions of his administration have put key domestic violence resources in jeopardy. A temporary freeze spooked nonprofits that rely on federal funding, including many established organizations aiding those experiencing intimate partner violence. Other organizations see no way to comply with executive orders targeting 'illegal DEI,' risking their funding. The Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, a major funder of services for domestic violence shelters, hotlines and prevention efforts for nearly 30 years, took down its notices of funding opportunities for the 2025 fiscal year. There is no indication of when these grant applications will go online, risking funds that anti-violence groups have depended on for years. This week the DOJ canceled hundreds of grants from the Office of Justice Programs, removing promised monies pledged to victims services programs across the nation. The National Center for Victims of Crime lost nearly $3 million, funding it depended on to run its Victims Connect Resource Center for victims of all kinds of crime. Renee Williams, the CEO, wrote on LinkedIn that the organization would struggle to staff phone lines past this week. A banner on the website already notes that hotline wait times are longer than usual. An email sent to awardees of canceled grants by Maureen Henneberg, the acting head of the Office of Justice Programs, informed organizations that their work doesn't support the priorities of the department. She also wrote that funding will focus on several areas, including 'supporting American victims of trafficking and sexual assault.' In a departure from previous statements, Trump's proclamation recognizing April as National Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Month incorrectly blamed undocumented immigrants for rising rates of sexual violence. (Trump himself was found liable in federal court for sexual abuse in May 2023.) In a statement to The Washington Post, Attorney General Pam Bondi identified herself as 'a lifelong advocate for victims of crimes against women.' She said services for victims services would not be impacted by the cancellations, and that grantees will have a chance to appeal. Some cancellations have already been reversed, per NBC News. Stephanie Love-Patterson, the president and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, told Mother Jones that this latest round of funding cuts 'will have devastating, real-life consequences for survivors and their children.' The post Advocates for immigrant victims of domestic violence condemn White House 'political theater' appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Abrego Garcia's wife said she had to move to a safe house after DHS posted her address
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, said she and her children have been moved to a safe house after the Department of Homeland Security posted a court document on social media that included their home address. 'I don't feel safe when the government posts my address, the house where my family lives, for everyone to see, especially when this case has gone viral and people have all sorts of opinions,' Vasquez Sura told The Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday. As the Trump administration released documents detailing its case against Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father with protected status who officials admitted was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, DHS last week posted a copy of a civil protective order granted to his wife in 2021. 'Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a history of violence and was not the upstanding 'Maryland Man' the media has portrayed him as,' the agency wrote in a post on X. The family's home address and other personal information about the couple was not redacted. The Department of Homeland Security told MSNBC that the documents it posted are publicly accessible. In a statement last week, Vasquez Sura revealed her experience with domestic violence in a previous relationship and said she sought the protective order after a disagreement with Abrego Garcia 'in case things escalated.' 'Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process,' she said. 'No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. 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 deportation.' According to the Post, Abrego Garcia had struck her during an argument in their car in 2021. Vasquez Sura attributed it to the mounting pressure they were facing while raising three children, including their youngest son, who is nonverbal and autistic, as well as lingering trauma from Abrego Garcia's seven-month detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2019. (That detention is now the central focus of the Trump administration's case against him.) 'Look, Kilmar is not perfect — nobody is,' Vasquez Sura told the Post. 'Day by day, you grow. Every day, you learn. And he was trying his best for me, for our kids, for our future.' Abrego Garcia's case is arguably the most high-profile one among the Trump administration's sweeping deportation efforts. The government has repeatedly accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, allegations that his lawyer and Vasquez Sura have vehemently denied. As the legal battle over his removal and court-ordered return to the U.S. plays out, Trump officials — and even Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele — have portrayed Abrego Garcia as a violent gang member, a terrorist and a less-than-stellar husband and father. Meanwhile, Vasquez Sura has continued to advocate for his return. 'Enough is enough,' she told reporters last week. 'My family can't be robbed from another day without seeing Kilmar. This administration has already taken so much from my children, from Kilmar's mother, brother, sisters and me.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Team Sinks Even Lower With New Attack on Abrego Garcia's Wife
Donald Trump's administration is now attempting to smear the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man deported to El Salvador due to an 'administrative error.' During an interview on Newsmax's Wake Up America Thursday, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin criticized Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who'd been forced to move her family to a safe house after the DHS posted a document that included her full address. McLaughlin tried to claim that the government hadn't done anything wrong by posting the documents. 'These were publicly accessible documents,' she said. 'It wasn't just the Department of Homeland Security that had them, it's any member of the American public can go out to a courthouse and get these documents. So to try to lay that at our feet is just inaccurate.' But McLaughlin took it a step further, attempting to sow doubt about Vasquez Sura's 'sob story.' 'I think it's important to point to her credibility, a number of times, including that in her own written testimony she said she feared her husband,' McLaughlin said. The document the government had posted containing the family's address was a protective order that Vasquez Sura had sought against her husband but then abandoned. 'She said that he abused her, that he ripped off her shirt, that he slapped her, that he was scratching her, that she was trying to take her children away. And now she's pushing this sob story that they had a wonderful relationship, that they never fought,' McLaughlin said. 'I think most couples fight, so, I unfortunately think this woman is burning down her own credibility as well.' In reality, it's McLaughlin who has undermined her own credibility in her crusade to see Abrego Garcia remain in El Salvador. Last week, she claimed in a post on X that when Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 for loitering, he was found with 'rolls of cash.' But anyone who actually bothers to read the uncompelling police documents would know that the hoodie he was wearing at the time had cash printed on it. It should come as no surprise that McLaughlin was completely mischaracterizing Vasquez Sura's statement about the abandoned protective order against her husband. 'After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated,' Vasquez Sura said in a statement to multiple outlets Wednesday. 'Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling. 'Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. 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,' the statement read. Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, is currently staying in an undisclosed location with her three children as the U.S. government makes continued attempts to flout a Supreme Court order requiring that it 'facilitate' the return of her husband. Vasquez Sura has found herself at the center of a political firestorm with far-reaching implications, as both the Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele insist that Abrego Garcia will not be coming back to the U.S.
