Latest news with #JenniferVasquez
Telegraph
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Kilmar Abrego Garcia claims he was tortured in El Salvadoran prison
Kilmar Abrego Garcia claims that he was tortured after being mistakenly deported to an El Salvadoran mega prison by the Trump administration. Lawyers for Mr Abrego Garcia, 29, who entered the US illegally, said the married father was subjected to 'severe beatings', 'sleep deprivation' and 'psychological torture' while incarcerated. The new details of Mr Abrego Garcia's time in El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Centre (Cecot) were added to a lawsuit against the Trump administration filed by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez. The Trump administration has asked a federal judge in Maryland, where Mr Abrego Garcia was living before his arrest in March, to dismiss Ms Vasquez's lawsuit, arguing that it is now moot because the government returned her husband to the US, as ordered by the court. His case became a flashpoint in a national debate about Mr Trump's border crackdown, sparking outrage from Democrats who held it up as evidence of the cruelty of the president's mass deportation programme. While imprisoned in El Salvador, he was allegedly kicked and hit so often upon arrival that by the following day, he had visible bruises and lumps all over his body, according to court documents. He added that he and 20 others were forced to kneel all night long and guards hit anyone who fell. Mr Abrego Garcia said detainees 'were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation'. He said prison officials repeatedly threatened to transfer him to a cell with gang members who would 'tear' him apart. He also allegedly saw other inmates violently attack each other and heard screams throughout the night. During his time at Cecot, his condition is said to have deteriorated rapidly owing to inadequate food provisions, causing him to lose more than 30 pounds in the first two weeks. Mr Abrego Garcia was returned to the US last month to face human smuggling charges to which he has pleaded not guilty. The White House initially pushed back against a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return, insisting he was a member of the notorious South American gang MS-13 – allegations his wife and lawyers have denied. He also allegedly beat Ms Vasquez in 2021, prompting her to get a restraining order against him and describe him as 'violent' in a handwritten statement. Ms Vasquez, who has since described her husband as an 'excellent father', previously told law enforcement he punched her, scratched her and ripped off her shirt. Mr Abrego Garcia is currently in jail in Tennessee awaiting trial.
Daily Mail
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Kilmar Abrego Garcia's 'brazen threat' to wife uncovered as the 'Maryland migrant' faces smuggling trial that could land him behind bars for life
The Salvadoran man who has become the face of President Trump's mission to deport migrants, claimed he could kill his wife and get away with it, according to court records. Kilmar Abrego Garcia – who on Friday pled not guilty to two human smuggling charges in Tennessee that could land him in prison for life – made the threat during one of many alleged domestic violence incidents, the papers claim. His wife Jennifer Vasquez laid out the allegations in a 2020 handwritten statement to police. 'He kicked me… slapped me in the face. Threaten me. I also have a recorded (sic) that he told my ex-mother-in-law that even he kills me no one can do anything to him,' she claimed. Abrego Garcia, 29, is now back in the United States after being deported back to his native land, where he was held for a while in a notorious ultra hell-hole prison. Vasquez, also 29, led demands for him to be brought back. She has been his most vocal champion, defending his character at press conferences and sharing carefully curated videos on social media showing him as a doting husband and devoted father. But can reveal that court documents we have exclusively reviewed reveal a far darker story. Vasquez shockingly filed for protective orders against the so-called ' Maryland Migrant' not once, but twice, detailing his alleged violent behavior. The Maryland father-of-three – who was whisked up in the first mass deportations by ICE on March 12 and extradited to the CECOT mega prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, despite a court order protecting him from removal – has never been arrested or convicted of a crime, despite several brushes with the law. But two court documents reveal a history of shocking domestic violence allegations against Abrego Garcia made by his wife. Her formal application for a protection order in 2020, just a year after they were married, claimed her husband kept her captive, hit her and bragged about being able to act with impunity. Vasquez, who has two children with former partner Edwin Ramos Trejo and one with Abrego Garcia, said in her 2020 protection order application that she dialed 911 following an argument over her car and cooking. She claimed her new husband then locked her two eldest children in a room and she could hear their sobbing but was powerless. Vasquez managed to call 911, but that apparently escalated the situation. In an often-disjoined narrative, she wrote: 'I told him to let me go downstairs, but he blocked the door.' Desperate, she looked out of a window and 'saw someone walking and called for help… when my husband heard he grabbed me back inside and slapped me. 'Police came. He acted violent with him and broke my phone in front of officer. This is not the first time. It been a couple of occasion he takes my phone, and I'm left without be able to call anyone. I have photos of all the bruises his left on my body. Jennifer, who advocated for her husband's 'upstanding' character on TikTok, filed two orders of protection against him where she went as far as accusing him of saying to her ex-mother-in-law that he would kill her with no consequences 'In my house is broken TVs, my son's tablet, my car windshield, phones… me and my kids are afraid now.' In her 2021 complaint, also to the District Court of Maryland for Prince George's County, Vasquez alleged in her one-page missive a violent situation when the couple were with their young baby, possibly in bed in the early hours. 'I told him I wasn't sleepy, he got angry, reached over, shut and threw my laptop on the floor and the baby started to cry because he was putting pressure on him. My reaction was to push him off us, and then he punched, scratched me on my left eye, leaving me bleeding. 'That same day at 2pm he came home… he got angry again started yelling to the point that he rip my shorts and shirt off and I ran to the bathroom. He ran behind me, grabbed me by my arm.' Later that day, according to the complaint: 'I order Uber to leave with my kids b/c scared of him... at this point I am afraid to be close to him.' In an apparent reference to other alleged attacks, she wrote: 'I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he has left me.' Vasquez wrote in a separate section that asked for previous injuries: 'Nov 2020 hit me with his work boot. Aug 2020 hit me in the eye leaving me with purple eye'. The mother was granted protection orders on both occasions, ordering Abrego Garcia to leave the home 'immediately' and have no contact 'or attempt to harass' her, court records show. However, both petitions were eventually dismissed because Vasquez failed to follow through with the proceedings and apparently reconciled with her husband. The indictment of Abrego Garcia that charges him with transporting people who were in the United States illegally stems from a traffic stop in 2022 where a police officer suspected he was on a people-smuggling run In other court paperwork, exclusively obtained by Vasquez's ex Ramos Trejo alleged in 2018 that Abrego Garcia was a gang member. The dad was applying to Prince George's County Circuit Court for sole custody of his two children. He wrote by hand about Vasquez: 'She try to kill herself.' And he added in disjointed English but with a clear meaning: 'I'm afraid of my kids live are in danger because she is dating a gang member.' Abrego Garcia's brother Cesar refused to answer any questions about his brother when approached him at his $550,000 single-family home in Beltsville, Maryland. Specifically, we asked for an explanation about his new charges related to the 2022 incident that had a police officer suspecting that Abrego Garcia had links to a convicted human trafficker and was on a people-smuggling run. Driving an SUV, Abrego Garcia was pulled over in Tennessee by a state trooper and said he had been driving construction workers between jobs for the last three days, accofrding to a police report.. The journey started in Houston, Texas, with the final destination 1,400 miles away in Temple Hills, Maryland. According to the report, there was no luggage in the black Chevrolet Suburban, and all the men gave Abrego Garcia's home address as theirs as well. The now-incarcerated migrant was driving with an expired temporary license and told the state trooper the SUV belonged to his boss, Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, the report said. So concerned was the trooper that he suspected Abrego Garcia was involved in human trafficking and arrested the nine men. However, due to guidance from the Biden administration's FBI, Abrego Garcia was released with a warning for driving without a valid license. Now, court and DHS intelligence documents seen by Just The News reportedly show that Abrego Garcia's 'boss' was a fellow Salvadoran illegal migrant and convicted human smuggler. On December 2, 2019, a DHS special agent stopped a suspicious white Dodge Caravan minivan with New Mexico plates on Interstate I-10 in Gautier, Mississippi. Inside the agent found nine migrant men. In the passenger seat was Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes – the man Abrego Garcia reportedly named as his 'boss.' In August 2020, Hernandez Reyes pleaded guilty to four counts of 'aiding and abetting the illegal transportation of an alien within the United States' and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. Abrego Garcia's own journey into the United States meant crossing illegally at age 16, following gang threats in his home city San Salvador. He joined Cesar in Maryland before meeting dentist office employee Vasquez in 2016 and working as an HVAC installer. While Democratic Senator Chris van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to meet Abrego Garcia as part of a campaign to 'bring him home', further alleged revelations of gang ties have emerged. Trump administration border czar Tom Homan has called Abrego Garcia, 'an MS-13 gang member, public safety threat, [and] terrorist'. In 2019, he was arrested while standing around with three known MS-13 gang members outside a Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland, according to police records. Vasquez said her husband was merely looking for work. One of the MS-13 members was known as 'Bimbo' and had previous arrests for assault, burglary and concealing a dangerous weapon according to the document, called a 'Gang Field Interview Sheet'. At the time, Abrego Garcia was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat which the police said was 'indicative of Hispanic gang culture' and showed he was a member in 'good standing' with MS-13. The clothing allegedly represented 'see no evil, hear no evil', a gang motto. According to the document, a detective spoke with a 'past and proven reliable source' who advised that Abrego Garcia was an 'active member of MS-13' with a clique known as the Westerns and had the rank of 'Chequeo' and the moniker 'Chele'. In April 2019, a month later, a federal judge in Baltimore denied Abrego Garcia a bond and said that she found the claims about him being a gang member persuasive. Judge Elizabeth Kessler wrote: 'The fact that a 'past, proven, and reliable source of information' verified the respondent's gang membership, rank, and gang name is sufficient to support that the respondent is a gang member, and the Respondent has failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion'. However, in October of that year, a different judge freed him and allowed him to stay in the US indefinitely. While Baltimore federal judge David Jones did not dismiss the allegation that he was an MS-13 member, he said that he was persuaded that Abrego Garcia would be persecuted if he returned to El Salvador.
Telegraph
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Kilmar Abrego Garcia heads back to US after wrongful deportation to El Salvador
An illegal migrant who was mistakenly deported from the US to El Salvador's notorious mega prison is on his way back to the US to face charges. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who entered the US illegally, was one of hundreds deported by Donald Trump. He will face criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the US, ABC reported. The US Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to 'facilitate' Mr Abrego Garcia's return after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March. The White House initially refused, insisting Mr Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious South American gang MS-13, allegations his wife and lawyer have denied. Mr Abrego Garcia remained imprisoned in the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo in El Salvador. Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, said he lacked the power to return Mr Abrego Garcia, saying it would be 'preposterous' to 'smuggle a terrorist into the United States'. Mr Abrego Garcia's case dominated the news agenda in the US for a time and was seized upon by Democrats, who held it up as evidence of the cruelty of Mr Trump's mass deportation programme. In turn, Republicans claimed it proved that Democrats cared more about the welfare of an alleged gang member than the safety of the US people. Mr Abrego Garcia's wife Jennifer Vasquez has campaigned for his release, despite allegations he had previously beaten her and was once detained as part of a murder investigation. Police documents made public by Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, alleged Mr Abrego Garcia had a rank and street name with the brutal gang MS-13. He also allegedly beat Ms Vasquez in 2021, prompting her to get a restraining order against him and describe him as 'violent' in a handwritten statement. Ms Vasquez, who has since described her husband as an 'excellent father', previously told law enforcement he punched her, scratched her and ripped off her shirt. In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph in April, Gustavo Villatoro, El Salvador's justice and security minister, said there was 'no proof' Mr Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13. Mr Villatoro also suggested it was possible El Salvador could facilitate the return of Mr Abrego Garcia 'in the future' should Donald Trump request it, contrary to claims made by Mr Bukele. Ms Bondi said a grand jury had found 'Abrego Garcia had played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring', prompting an arrest warrant to be sent to El Salvador. 'They found this was his full time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women.' Mr Abrego Garcia 'abused undocumented alien females', according to co-conspirators who were under his control while transporting them throughout our country, Ms Bondi claimed. He is alleged to have trafficked firearms and narcotics throughout America on multiple occasions, the grand jury found. A co-conspirator also alleged that Mr Garcia solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor and played a role in the murder of a rival gang member. 'It is very dangerous, and they [MS-13] are living throughout our country. but no more because they are being arrested, they are being prosecuted and being convicted and deported, when appropriate,' Ms Bondi added. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said: 'Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien terrorist, gang member, and human trafficker who has spent his entire life abusing innocent people, especially women and the most vulnerable. 'Abrego Garcia will now return to the United States to answer for his crimes and meet the full force of American justice. 'The Democrat lawmakers, namely Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen, and every single so-called 'journalist' who defended this illegal criminal abuser must immediately apologise to Garcia's victims. 'The Trump administration will continue to hold criminals accountable to the fullest extent of the.'
