Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and why does he matter?

Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia becomes symbol in immigration debate after alleged MS-13 connections, deportation to El Salvador, and court-ordered return.

Simon Hankinson is a senior research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center and author of "The Ten Woke Commandments (You Must Not Obey)" from Academica Books. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, KAAG’s wife filed for a restraining order against him for domestic violence – twice. Then in November 2022, paragon "Maryland Dad" KAAG was caught speeding, without a valid driver’s license, by Tennessee state police. They looked inside his van, with tinted windows, and saw what they thought were nine illegal alien men.

The logical inference was that KAAG was being paid to smuggle them from the border to Maryland, where they’d no doubt work illegally. The cops let him go and cut bait. They probably knew that if they called ICE in that Biden era of open borders and mass illegal migration, no one would come.