The Division of Justice filed discover Wednesday that it’ll enchantment the order from a federal choose requiring the federal government to facilitate the return of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador, on the identical day the it launched two paperwork that had been beforehand used to allegedly tie him to the felony gang MS-13.
The 2 varieties the federal government current as proof — a gang discipline interview sheet from the Prince George’s County Police Division in Maryland and a further kind from the Division of Homeland Safety — base Abrego Garcia’s alleged gang affiliation on his clothes and knowledge from a confidential informant described as a “previous confirmed and dependable supply of data.”
The reviews present no different info past the clothes and confidential informant to justify the declare that Abrego Garcia is a rating gang member.
Abrego Garcia is coming into his second month in an El Salvador mega-prison after he was deported there on March 15 regardless of being issued a 2019 courtroom order barring his deportation to his dwelling nation because of the worry of persecution.
His attorneys and his spouse have denied he’s a member of MS-13, and his legal professionals have known as into query the validity of the doc by alleging the detective who authored it was later suspended.
DHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin informed ABC Information’ Jay O’Brien on Tuesday that Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador was the results of a “clerical error” and that “he ought to have been despatched to a detention heart in Mexico, Nicaragua, Egypt.”
Based on the gang discipline interview sheet – a report of the police’s interplay with Abrego Garcia – he was approached by police in 2019 after they stated he was loitering in a House Depot parking zone in Hyattsville, Maryland.
Undated photograph supplied by the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Maryland, a person recognized by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is led by power by guards via the Terrorism Confinement Heart in Tecoluca, El Salvador.
U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Maryland by way of AP
The report famous that Abrego Garcia wore a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie emblazoned with pictures of rolls of cash masking the eyes and ears of former U.S. presidents, which police claimed tied Abrego Garcia to the gang.
“Officers know such clothes to be indicative of the Hispanic gang tradition,” the report stated, noting that the that means of the clothes is “see no evil, hear no evil and say no evil.”
“Sporting the Chicago Bulls hat represents that they’re a member in good standing with the MS-13,” the report stated.
Based on the report, officers contacted a “previous confirmed and dependable supply of data” who stated that Abrego Garcia was a rating member of MS-13. Abrego Garcia had the rank of “Chequeo” and had the moniker “Chele,” based on the informant. Based on the DOJ, a chequeo is a low degree member of MS-13.
The DHS report added that Abrego Garcia was in possession of $1,178 on the time of his arrest.
The report famous that Abrego Garcia was within the firm of three different males when he was arrested, considered one of whom, based on police, had an intensive felony historical past and was often called an lively gang member. One other was linked to MS-13 based mostly on a confidential supply, the report stated.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant on this handout picture obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025.
Abrego Garcia Household By way of Reuters
Police stated they had been unable to hyperlink the third man to the gang, writing that “MS-13 gang members are solely allowed to hold round different members or prospects for the gang.”
The opposite doc — a DHS I-213 kind — cited the Prince George’s County Police Division discipline interview sheet to say that Abrego Garcia was “recognized” and “validated” as a member of MS-13. Abrego Garcia denied having any details about the gang or human smuggling, based on the DHS report.
An immigration choose who denied Abrego Garcia bond in 2019 cited each reviews as the primary proof to conclude he posed a danger to the neighborhood.
Abrego Garcia’s legal professionals have highlighted obvious inconsistencies within the DHS report, saying it affords contradictory assessments concerning whether or not Abrego Garcia feared being eliminated to El Salvador.
His attorneys have additionally highlighted that the confidential info linked Abrego Garcia to the Western clique of MS-13, which principally operates on Lengthy Island, the place they are saying he has by no means lived.
The report additionally famous that the 2 different alleged gang members on the House Depot parking zone had been members of a unique MS-13 clique.
Wednesday’s developments got here a day after U.S. District Decide Paula Xinis ordered authorities officers to testify below oath as a result of, she stated, that they had “completed nothing to assist in Abrego Garcia’s launch from custody and return to america,” regardless of the Supreme Courtroom directing the Trump administration to “‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s launch from custody in El Salvador.”
Per Decide Xinis’ orders, the Trump administration on Wednesday submitted its day by day standing replace on Abrego Garcia, saying that had been “no additional updates.”
“Given the federal government’s prior clear and unequivocal discover to the Courtroom concerning how the federal government will facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return inside the contours of present legislation and regulation, there are not any additional updates,” Joseph Mazzarra, the Performing Normal Counsel for the Division of Homeland Safety, stated within the replace.
