On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi released police records showing Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the “Maryland man” who was deported to his native El Salvador by the Trump administration, was in fact a member of MS-13 and was in the United States illegally.
Contrary to the assertions of Garcia’s lawyers (and many in the corporate press) that there’s no evidence he’s a member of MS-13 and that the cops just made it all up, the police affidavit from Garcia’s arrest in March 2019 shows that he was arrested with multiple other confirmed MS-13 gang members, was wearing clothing associated with the gang, and was identified by a confidential police informant as an MS-13 gang member with a rank and a moniker.
Here’s what the police record said. Garcia and three other men were arrested outside a Home Depot by Hyattsville City Police in Maryland, and as police approached them, “two of the individuals reached into their waistbands and discarded several unknown items under a parked vehicle,” according to the affidavit. One of the men, Christhyan Hernandez-Romero, was immediately recognized by police as a member of the MS-13 Sailors Clique. Hernandez-Romero, police said, “has an extensive criminal history for multiple assault, concealing dangerous weapon, burglary and many other offenses.” They even knew his rank and moniker, which was “Bimbo.”
Another of the men, Jose Guillermo Dominguez, was covered in MS-13 gang tattoos and was identified by “a past proven and reliable source” as an active MS-13 gang member with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Maniaco.”
As for Garcia, police recognized his clothing as “indicative of Hispanic gang culture,” and that he was a “member in good standing with the MS-13.” The same confidential informant told police that Garcia had the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Chele.” In addition, the arrest record shows that Garcia was by his own admission an illegal alien from El Salvador who had entered the U.S. by walking across the border near McAllen, Texas, in March 2012. At the time of his arrest in Maryland while loitering outside a Home Depot, he had $1,178 in cash on him. Several plastic bottles containing marijuana were also found near the men after their arrest.
The fourth man was released after police were unable to determine his gang affiliation, which calls into serious question the claim by Garcia’s lawyers that the cops were just making up his affiliation with MS-13. If so, why didn’t they do so with this fourth man?
This police record is likely what multiple immigration judges, as well as the Board of Immigration Appeals, relied on when finding that “the evidence shows that he [Garcia] is a verified member of MS-13.”
Beyond being a verified member of MS-13 and an illegal alien, Garcia is an alleged domestic abuser. In 2021, his wife sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he punched and scratched her and ripped off her shirt.
All that to say, he’s not a “Maryland man” or a “Maryland constituent,” as the corporate press and top Democrats are referring to him. He’s an illegal alien and a member of a terrorist gang who was ordered deported from this country. And while the details of his case are complicated and somewhat convoluted, there can be no question that Garcia has no right to be in the United States. Contrary to what the corporate press widely claimed, he doesn’t have “legal status” or “temporary protected status” or any other status here. His status was and is that he is a deportable illegal alien, who also happens to be a member of MS-13 and, allegedly, a domestic abuser.
Democrats like Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey are campaigning to bring Garcia back “home” to the United States. Van Hollen even flew to El Salvador this week in a failed and rather quixotic effort to meet with Garcia. These Democrats are of course free to broadcast their priorities — in this case, as my colleague Eddie Scarry put it, “attempting to re-import an illegal alien who was lawfully removed from the country” — but let’s be clear that Garcia’s “home” is El Salvador, not the United States.
Remember that when you see liberals and fake conservatives moaning online about “due process” for Garcia. He had as much due process as he could reasonably expect under our insane immigration and asylum system, and he was deported when that process ran its course and an administration came to power determined to enforce our immigration laws.
The truth is, there is no amount of due process that will ever satisfy pro-illegal immigration Democrats and their allies in the corporate press. They think Garcia and millions like him should be allowed to remain indefinitely in this country, no matter their criminal history or immigration status. They will protest every deportation along the same hysterical lines they are now protesting Garcia’s, and if the Trump administration isn’t prepared to ignore them we will never see an end to mass illegal immigration.