DHS Stands by Claims That Abrego Garcia is MS-13 Posts…

DHS Stands by Claims That Abrego Garcia is MS-13 Posts 'Bombshell' Report That 'Reeks of Human Trafficking'

Picture of Abrego Garcia stopped by Tennessee Highway Patrol (2022) (Credit: Homeland Security Official Website)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a new report alleging that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongfully deported from the United States, is a member of the MS-13 gang and was likely engaged in human trafficking.

These claims, disclosed through an official DHS investigative referral, follow weeks of legal and political contention surrounding Garcia's removal from the U.S., which a federal judge has since deemed "wholly lawless."

In a DHS statement, spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Garcia "is a MS-13 gang member, illegal alien from El Salvador, and suspected human trafficker." McLaughlin cited a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee where Garcia was found driving eight passengers from Texas to Maryland without luggage and with all occupants claiming the same home address.

"The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking," McLaughlin said in the statement, adding that "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."

The report adds that in 2019 the Prince George's County Police Gang Unit determined Garcia was a member of the MS-13 "western clique" based on information from a source deemed credible at the time. DHS claims Garcia had previously been arrested with cash and drugs, and that two judges found him to be affiliated with the gang.

Abrego Garcia has never been charged with or convicted of any crime in the United States, as NBC News recalls. His wife and legal team strongly deny the gang affiliation, calling the evidence speculative and based on hearsay, noting that he was granted "withholding of removal" status in 2019 due to fears of persecution by gangs in El Salvador, which legally barred his deportation at the time.

"The government's 'evidence' was thin, to say the least," argued Judge Stephanie Thacker of the 4th Circuit Court in early April when tending to an appeal by the Trump administration, pointing to the fact that it was based on him "wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie" and a "vague and uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13's Western clique in New York — a place he has never lived."

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