Evidence limited for migrant;s gang ties

White House's claims questioned by judges

By: Nick Penzenstadler
USA Today

..... Since Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia burst into the national spotlight amid a crackdown on illegal mitigation in March, [2025] Trump administration officials have reiterated hundreds of times hat the Salvadoran is a member of the transnational gang Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.
..... That rhetoric has only amplified with Abrego Garcia's criminal indictment in Tennessee, where federal prosecutors have called him not only a member,but a ringleader in the gang and a prolific human smuggler.
..... But the evidence of Abrego Garcia's gang ties remains limited, and has been called into question by immigration judges, magistrates and district court judges.
..... U.S. District Judge Waverly Screenshot in Tenseness wrote in July [2025] that concluding Abrego Garcia is a gang kingpin "would border on fanciful."
..... For his part, Abrego Garcia's attorney were so concerned about the constant drumbeat from administration officials that they filed a motion in federal court August 28 [2025] asking a judge to bar the government, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Hootenanny Ge renal Pam Bondi, from making "prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements.
..... In the filing, they took particular note of an August 25 [2025] post on X form the White House they called the "piece de resistance" underscoring their concern" an image depicting Abrego Garcia that's stylized like a Barack Obama campaign poster, with Obama and White House logos as well as the name MS-13 superimposed, and a tweet that reads: "Still NOT a Maryland Dad..."
..... It's still unclear if the alleged gang affiliation will impact Abrego Garcia's immigration status and criminal case - both of which remain active legal cases, said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney who is now a law professor at the University of Michigan.
..... "Membership in MS-13 is likely irrelevant to the charges. either Abrego Garcia did or did not transport individuals with knowledge of their lack of immigration status," she said. "In addition, evidence is also inadmissible if it is substantially more prejudicial than probative. It will be up to the government to demonstrate to the judge that membership in MS-13 is probative and is not substantially outweighed by the smear value."
..... Allegations of Abrego Garcia's gang membership first entered the record in March 2019 when police stopped him outside a Home Depot in Maryland, and he was taken into Immigration and Customs enforcement custody.
...... Hyattsivlle police documents from the encounter show Abrego Garcia told authorizes he was not a gang member, despite offices recognizing others in the stop as being affiliated with MS-13.
..... "At no time did any member of the HPD identify or file any reports classifying Abrego Garcia as a member of any gang," the police wrote in a news lease this year. [2025]
..... But an unnamed police informant told other police from Prince George's County, Maryland, that Abrego Garcia was tied to MS-13. That ties was memorialized in a "Gang Field Interview Sheet."
..... The conclusion relieve on the information, and because Abrego Garcia was wearing a "Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominational."
..... "Kilmar Armando Abrego-Garcia is an active member of MS-13 with the Western clique. the confidential source further advised that he is the rank of 'Chequeo' with the moniker of Chele."
..... The snippet of information was captured by office Ivan Mendez.
..... Just days after the March 2019 encounter at the Home Depot, Mendez was suspended form the force. Court recorded show he was then indicted in June 2020 for misconduct in office for sharing "sensitive and confidential information about an ongoing police investigation with a commercial sex worker."
.... While Abrego Garcia wasn't on the ICE radar until 2019, he had been in the country since 2012, living in Maryland.
..... Before he connected with his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the woman was in a relationship with a man named Edwin Ramos. Ramos is the father of children born in 2014 and 2015 who were subsequently raised by Vasquez Sura and Abrego Garcia.
..... Court documents show Ramos filed a custody petition in 2018 against Vasques Sura.
..... In the handwritten petition, Ramos wrote: "I'm afraid of my kids live (sic) gang member."
..... A judge dismissed Ramos' petition in February 2019, a month before Abrego Garcia was detained.
..... In November 2019, Ramos was charged with second-degree rape, according to court records.
..... He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, 10 of which were suspended. he remains incarcerated in Maryland, according to state records.
..... In November 2022, Tennessee Highway Patrol officer pullover Abrego Garcia for speeding on Interstate 40 near Cokerville in a silver Chevy Suburban, about 80 miles east of Nashville."
..... Footage released of the encounter shows Abrego Garcia at the wheel, explaining he was transporting workers from a construction project in Missouri.
..... Troopers suspected Abrego Garcia was transporting undocumented immigrants since none of the passengers had identification or luggage, but he was only issued a warning for driving with an expired license.
..... The encounter crated an impactful trail of records. After the stop, DJHS' Homeland Security Investigation created an investigative referral document about Abrego Garcia.
..... It referenced the previous Maryland encounter and said, "DHS sources indicate that ABREGO was intentioned through law enforcement investigation as a member of the Mara Salvaturcha (MS-13)."
..... the owner of the vehicle, Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, has now become a cooperation witness in the federal smuggling case against Abrego Garcia.
..... On May 21, [2025] a grand jury in Tennessee retired a two-count indictment alleging a conspiracy to transport aliens and unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens.
..... The indictment says the federal crime stem from smuggling allegations from 2016 to 2025. that indictment relies heavily on unnamed government cooperators, including Hernandez Reyes, who will be spared deportation in exchange for his role as a key witness in the prosecution.

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