The deported El Salvadoran man at the center of an intense court battle was flagged in 2022 by the Biden administration as a "suspect alien" who was possibly involved in “human smuggling/trafficking” after a traffic stop hundreds of miles from his Maryland home, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents reviewed by Just the News.

The records don't indicate whether the Biden administration ever followed up on the concerns.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was stopped in Tennessee for driving erratically and speeding by a state trooper in late November 2022 and was found to be driving an SUV full of people coming from Texas with an expired Maryland license, according to the documents.

“Subject was observed speeding and unable to maintain its lane, and was subsequently pulled over,” one entry stated. 

"Encountering officer decided not to cite the subject for driving infractions but gave him a warning citation for driving with an expired driver's license," the memo stated. Maryland is one of the states that issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

Human trafficking concerns

The circumstances of the stop led the trooper to believe that human trafficking was involved, according to a summary of the incident recorded in Homeland’s immigration alert system on Dec. 6, 2022.

“During the interview, subject pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions,” the summary stated. “When asked what relationship he had with the registered owner of the vehicle, subject replied the owner of the vehicle is his boss, and that his work is in construction.” 

“There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident,” the report stated. Homeland's own system categorized the incident under the title "human smuggling/trafficking," the memos show. 

The records indicate the incident was located by Homeland Security Investigations during a review of computer-aided dispatch reports generated anytime law enforcement stops a suspect. 

There is no record showing whether the Biden's DHS ever followed up on enforcing the matter. 

The initial review determined that Abrego Garcia was a “suspect alien” and referred his matter for review to “passport control," the records show. Three weeks later on Dec. 27, 2022, Homeland updated its record to urge all personnel who encountered Abrego Garcia in the future to “escort to secondary,” a term referring to the investigative procedures used when someone suspected of wrongdoing is encountered at a port of entry or by border patrol agents.

Lawyers for Garcia did not return a call or email seeking comment. Ama Frimpong, who is serving as co-counsel for Abrego Garcia appeared on MSNBC Wednesday afternoon to say that the government should be subject to contempt proceedings.  

The state trooper named in the 2022 incident and Homeland Security officials also did not return calls seeking comment.

The Biden administration’s flagging of Abrego Garcia on suspicions of human smuggling adds to a growing body of evidence that the man at the center of one of the most significant deportation cases in modern history wasn’t the peaceful, law-abiding father from Maryland, as his wife and lawyers have claimed in the news media.

On Wednesday, DHS released a court filing showing that Abrego Garcia’s wife sought a domestic violence restraining order against him a year before the traffic stop in May 2021. The details in the court filing match with information in the Maryland Judiciary Case Search system.

The document signed by a judge described allegations of a "violent encounter.” Court records show the case was eventually dismissed when the wife, identified as Jennifer Vasquez, failed to appear for the final court hearing in June 2021.

Separate records released by Attorney General Pam Bondi show Abrego Garcia admitted to authorities in 2019 when he was first detained that he entered the United States illegally and had no basis for seeking asylum and that Maryland police positively identified him as member of the MS-13 criminal gang.

Fundraising, comparisons to Nazis

Despite the claim that he assaulted her four years ago, Vasquez is now publicly defending Abrego Garcia, urging the Trump administration on Wednesday to "stop playing political games" and return her husband to Maryland. "Our family is torn apart during this scary time. Our children miss their dad so much," Vasquez said. "We will continue to fight back against these governments. We will never give up on you, Kilmar." 

A "Go Fund Me" crowdsourcing campaign was reportedly set up by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), a charity that claims to provide assistance to immigrant workers. NDLON is partly funded through the left-wing ActBlue Charities, and their Facebook page displays images comparing ICE agents to Nazis capturing Jews. As of press time, the campaign has raised almost $200,000.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday told reporters that Homeland previously confirmed that Abrego Garcia was found in 2019 to be illegally in the country and detailed his original arrest that brought the suspect to the attention of immigration authorities.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his home country and when [Abrego Garcia] was originally arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls of money covering the ears, mouth and eyes of presidents on various currency denominations. This is a known MS-13 gang symbol of hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil,” Leavitt told reporters in a Wednesday press conference.

“Abrego Garcia was also arrested with two other well-known members of the vicious MS-13 gang. Two separate judges found that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13, and that finding has never been disputed. And, just this morning it was revealed through Maryland court documents that Abrego Garcia's wife petitioned for an order of protection against him for two instances of domestic violence in May of 2021,” Leavitt continued.

Gang member or upright citizen?

In his 2019 hearing after he was arrested in a Home Depot parking lot, the judge recognized government evidence confirming that Abrego Garcia was arrested in the presence of other "ranking gang members" and that he was "confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang by a proven and reliable source," though his wife continues to dispute these claims. On the fundraising page, she describes him as "a loving father, husband, son, brother, union construction co-worker [...] He has been wrongfully disappeared and deported, torn from his family due to a shocking administrative error by the US government."

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who is presiding over a challenge to Abrego Garcia's removal, ordered that the Trump administration had to return him by midnight on April 7. The Supreme Court took the case last week and granted an administrative stay. The court subsequently ruled that the administration should "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the United States, but also ruled the lower court judge may have exceeded her authority by ordering the the administration to bring Abrego Garcia home.