The feds suspected alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador in an error, was engaged in human and labor trafficking in 2022, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post.
The DHS intelligence report noted that Abrego Garcia was pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Dec. 1, 2022, after he was caught speeding.
Cops suspected human trafficking was involved because Abrego Garcia and his eight passengers had no luggage despite having been on the road for three days traveling from Texas to Maryland. All nine passengers also gave the same home address to a responding officer.
Abrego Garcia told the officer he was bound for Temple Hills, Maryland, “to bring in people to perform construction work,” according to the memo.
The officer wrote that he suspected “a human trafficking incident” following the stop.
Cops also noted that Abrego Garcia “pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put the encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions.”
Abrego Garcia also claimed that the vehicle was owned by “his boss” and that he worked in construction.
The officers left Abrego Garcia with only a citation for driving with an expired license.
The Post also obtained a photo showing Abrego Garcia sitting in the driver’s seat as the group was pulled over by state police.
Stay up to date on alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Post Friday that not only is Abrego Garcia an “MS-13 gang member” and an “illegal alien,” he’s a “suspected human trafficker.”
“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,” said McLaughlin. “The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking.”
“The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart. We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims,” she added.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol confirmed stopping Abrego Garcia for speeding in 2022, telling The Post they “contacted federal law enforcement authorities with the Biden-era FBI — the agency of jurisdiction — who made the decision not to detain him.”
The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia last month along with 260 other reputed gangbangers using the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the feds to remove them rapidly without a hearing.
Several federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have asked the Trump administration to return him to the US after his removal was found to be the result of a “clerical error.”
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argue the Salvadoran citizen has no criminal history to back his deportation from America.
But the Trump administration says his illegal border crossing in 2011 justifies his removal.
Justice Department lawyers have claimed they’re complying with the orders to return Abrego Garcia by removing obstacles existing in the US that would prevent him from coming back, but say they can’t force the government of El Salvador to return him.
Abrego Garcia was visited in El Salvador this week by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who traveled south to try to push for his release.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Thursday shared snaps of the senator lounging with Abrego Garcia and claimed the duo were “sipping margaritas” during their meetup.
“Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele said following the visit.
Van Hollen said Friday that Abrego Garcia has been moved to “another detention center in Santa Ana, where the conditions are better.” He also accused the El Salvador government of setting up the “margaritas” photo-op.
Abrego Garcia also had a run in with cops in Maryland in March 2019 and was detained after he was found hanging out with confirmed MS-13 gangbangers in a Home Depot parking lot, according to documents released by the Department of Justice Wednesday.
A “past proven and reliable source” also told a Hyattsville City Police Department detective 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 arrested, 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.
ICE agents later took him into federal custody, but an immigration judge blocked his deportation to El Salvador in October 2019 after determining 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, a US citizen who has been fiercely calling for his release.
Vasquez Sura 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.
His wife told The Post Wednesday that she was merely “acting out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar … in case things escalated” after she survived domestic abuse “in a previous relationship.”
“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.”
Vasquez Sura also said that 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.”
“I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.”
