While Democrats continue to decry Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation, newly obtained police records show that the suspected human smuggler is connected to another individual ticketed for cramming around 10 people in a car on a cross-country border trip.
Abrego Garcia — a deported Salvadoran illegal migrant who has since been brought back to the U.S. to face smuggling charges — was once pulled over with the same vehicle and license plate driven by another man more recently caught driving about 10 people from Texas to Maryland, according to police and court records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Democrats have pulled out all the stops for Abrego Garcia — going as far as traveling to El Salvador and protesting his deportation from a cushy five star resort.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia was not a ‘Maryland man,’ but likely an illegal alien gang member transporting other aliens from Texas to Maryland as part of a human trafficking operation,” Dale Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), told the DCNF.
“Those who pushed the narrative of Abrego Garcia as an innocent man deported unfairly have been gaslighting the American people,” Wilcox continued. “They have no credibility to attack the Trump administration’s much needed actions to remove dangerous aliens from our communities.”
‘Approximately 10 People Inside’
On Feb. 8, 2018, a man identified as Ismael Alexander Melara Flores was pulled over in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and cited for not wearing a seat belt, online court records show. He was driving a 2004 Toyota with a Maryland license plate.
Two months later, police in Frederick, Maryland — about 50 miles away from where Melara Flores was pulled over — cited Abrego Garcia for driving without a license and failure to provide a license to an officer, according to a police report obtained by the DCNF. The report noted he was driving a 2004 blue Toyota Matrix, and an online court record of that incident listed the same Maryland license plate for that car.
Melara Flores was pulled over again in November 2022, this time cited for an illegal window tint and hauling people in spaces not meant for passengers, according to a law enforcement citation obtained by the DCNF. Law enforcement personnel at the time of the citation noted that Melara Flores’ vehicle, a 2011 Honda Pilot, was sagging to the ground due to the sheer weight of roughly 10 people being crammed inside.
The trooper was told by the vehicle’s occupants that they were in the process of driving from Texas to Maryland, the law enforcement citation shows.
“Observed illegal window tint. [Vehicle] clearly sagging in rear due to excessive weight,” the report reads. “Had approximately 10 people inside of the vehicle. Taking them to Maryland from Houston. Crack stretching all the way across the windshield.”
Melara Flores was ultimately cited that day in Arkansas for an improper window tint, windshield obstruction and for driving people in spaces not meant for passengers. The law enforcement report was obtained with assistance from IRLI’s investigative team.
Law enforcement officials have suspected similar actions to be related to migrant or human smuggling — which was what the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected when they stopped Abrego Garcia in 2022 for driving eight people in his car from Texas to Maryland.
Police caught Abrego Garcia without a valid driver’s license and discovered he was transporting eight other individuals in the car with him on Dec. 1, 2022, according to Department of Homeland (DHS) documents previously shared with the Daily Caller. Like Melara Flores, he told the officer that he was driving everyone from Texas to Maryland.
Law enforcement suspected human smuggling was at play, given the fact that they were driving across the country, but not a single individual was carrying luggage, according to the documents. Additionally, every passenger listed Abrego Garcia’s address as their own.
“There’s eight people in there,” one officer says to another during the Tennessee traffic stop. “So he’s getting paid to haul these people, probably to Maryland, I would say.”
Despite the suspicions, Abrego Garcia and his passengers were reportedly let go at the request of the FBI. A spokesperson for the FBI directed a request for comment about this incident to DHS. However, a spokesperson for the department did not respond.
The vehicle Abrego Garcia was driving the night he was pulled over in Tennessee was owned by Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, a Mexican illegal migrant convicted of smuggling other illegal migrants, DHS confirmed to the DCNF.
The illegal migrant clients who paid for the Hernandez-Reyes-led operation were caught overpacked in a vehicle being driven from Texas to other parts of the country — in similar fashion to Melara Flores’ and Abrego Garcia’s road trips.
‘Even If He Kills Me, No One Can Do Anything To Him’
In addition to the alleged human smuggling connections, Abrego Garcia has been accused of repeated domestic abuse by his U.S. citizen wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura.
Sura swore in an April 2021 restraining order that he repeatedly hurt her and was aggressive during their marriage, claiming in court documents that he once “punched, scratched me on my left eye, leaving me bleeding.”
Sura, who has become an outspoken advocate for Abrego Garcia’s return since he was deported, framed the revelation of the protective order as an isolated incident and something she only undertook as a precautionary measure. In an interview with The Washington Post, she said she didn’t bother showing up to court for the protection order, causing it to be dismissed, and claimed that the altercation was a singular incident.
However, several days after that interview was published, DHS revealed an additional protective order Sura had filed in August 2020.
Sura claimed that, between December 2019 and March 2020, Abrego Garcia dragged her out of a vehicle by her hair and left her on the street, broke down doors and pushed her against a wall, and also claimed to have a recording of him stating that “even if he kills me, no one can do anything to him.”
Abrego Garcia has been suspected by law enforcement of affiliation with MS-13, the brutal international criminal syndicate made up of Salvadoran nationals, since his arrest on local charges in Maryland several years ago.
A “past proven reliable source” informed Prince George’s County law enforcement that he was a member of MS-13 following his 2019 arrest outside of a Home Depot, according to documents released by the Department of Justice. An immigration judge and members of the Board of Immigration Appeals later ruled that the accusations of gang affiliation were credible.
Sura’s ex, Edwin Trejo, accused Abrego Garcia of being a gang member in 2018 court papers when seeking an emergency court hearing on the custody of Sura’s and Trejo’s two children.
“The facts are clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a previous statement. “He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug.”
Five-Star Resort In El Salvador
Despite mounting accusations of gang affiliation and domestic abuse, Democrats remain steadfast in their demands to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen in April became the first in his party to travel to El Salvador to demand a meeting with the deported illegal migrant. He was soon followed by four House Democrats who travelled to the country later that month.
Maryland Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey spent his Memorial Day weekend traveling to El Salvador and demanding a meeting of his own with Abrego Garcia. During his trip, Ivey posted a video on social media indicating that he was denied access to the prison facility currently holding Abrego Garcia and was asked to return with the proper documentation.
Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker directed state officials in April to examine boycott options against the country of El Salvador until Abrego Garcia is returned to the U.S.
The Salvadoran national claims he left his home country to escape gang violence and illegally entered the U.S. around 2011, according to court documents. The alleged gangbanger eventually began a relationship with Sura, now his wife, and did not run into immigration trouble until his March 2019 local arrest in Prince George’s County.
He was transferred into federal custody while he fought deportation orders and accusations of gang affiliation, according to court documents. He caught a break in October 2019 when he was granted a protected status known as “withholding of removal” after an immigration judge agreed with his claim that he would likely face persecution by gang members if repatriated back to El Salvador.
Following his withholding of removal order, Abrego Garcia was released from custody and continued living in Maryland — until President Donald Trump returned to office and began a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.
Immigration officers pulled Abrego Garcia over on March 12 after he finished a work shift in the Baltimore area, informed him that his status had changed and took him into custody, according to court documents. By March 15, he informed his wife that he would be sent to a maximum security mega-prison in El Salvador built to detain MS-13 gangbangers and other members of notorious crime syndicates.
Democrats and other immigration activists have pointed to Abrego Garcia’s withholding of removal protection as reason why he should’ve never been sent back to El Salvador. He has since been transferred to another, lower security facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador, as the court challenge against his deportation continues on.
On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that Abrego Garcia landed in the U.S. to face human smuggling charges.
“Upon completion of his sentence, we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador,” Bondi said, adding that El Salvador President Nayib Bukele agreed to release him to face the charges. She said Abrego Garcia is believed to have made over 100 trips smuggling migrants across the U.S.
AUTHOR
Immigration Reporter
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