Jennifer Vasquez Sura said in 2020 that her husband had attacked her, but criminal charges were never filed.
The Trump administration has revealed a second allegation of domestic abuse against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran immigrant mistakenly deported in March.
In an August 2020 filing, the Maryland father’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said Abrego Garcia had kicked and slapped her, as well as verbally abused her. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said this showed it was right to have deported him, despite a court order blocking the move in 2019.
Vasquez Sura has made repeated pleas for her husband’s return from El Salvador’s CECOT prison and previously said they had worked on their issues through therapy.
Newsweek reached out to Abrego Garcia’s legal team for comment via email Thursday morning.
At DHS’ own admission, Abrego Garcia was removed due to an « administrative error » and the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the administration facilitate efforts to return him. Despite this, the White House has continued to say that he is a member of the MS-13 gang and has looked to present evidence justifying his deportation.
The deportation and the debate over his return has served as a key inflection point as President Donald Trump rolls out his immigration policies. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador for a highly publicized meeting with Abrego Garcia and has called for him to receive due process.
The August 3, 2020, filing shared by DHS on Wednesday outlines multiple allegations of abuse by Abrego Garcia against his wife and her three children in 2019 and 2020. She told police that he had detained her against her will and threatened to kill her during one instance.
« I try to go back to the basement and he had locked 2 of my kids in the room, and the baby was sleep[ing] in the crib », the handwritten statement read.
