Deported ‘Maryland Father’, Kilmar’s Van Full Of Migrants Owned By Convicted Human-Trafficker

Last week it was revealed that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported El Salvadoran man (aka, ‘Maryland Father’) at the center of an intense political debate, was suspected by a Tennessee state trooper of human trafficking in 2022 after he was pulled over for driving erratically in a black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban – owned by another individual, full of people.

“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,” reads the summary. “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,” according to DHS records.

Now, Just the News reports that the SUV was owned by a man who was himself deported after pleading guilty to smuggling illegal aliens in 2020.

Abrego Garcia told the state trooper that the SUV was owned by his boss. DHS documents, meanwhile, identified the owner of the vehicle as Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes – whose 2001 Suburban was flagged separately by Homeland Security Investigations Baltimore field office as belonging to a target the suspected of human trafficking or smuggling, the documents reveal.

“Vehicle is used by HSI Baltimore target in human smuggling/trafficking operation. Vehicle makes trips to southern border to pick up non-citizens,” reads the record, adding that the Baltimore HSI case agent should be notified if the vehicle is encountered.

Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, who Abrego Garcia claimed he was working for, had been previously convicted of smuggling illegal aliens into the United States.

In 2020, Hernandez Reyes, himself an illegal alien, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for smuggling fellow illegal aliens in the United States after he was stopped by law enforcement in Mississippi in a car with passengers from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. Homeland Security records indicate Hernandez Reyes’ “deport order” was reinstated in March 2021, as his 18-month sentence was nearing its end. -Just the News

A DHS official confirmed to JTN that the Hernandez Reyes mentioned in both cases refer to the same individual, though it’s unclear what the relationship was between Abrego Garcia and Hernandez Reyes.

According to the report, the similarities in traffic stops between the two men are striking. According to the DOJ, Hernandez Reyes and one co-defendant were stopped outside in Jackson County, Mississippi in the Suburban, which was being driven by one Modesto Alvarez – later determined to be Hernandez Reyes’ brother-in-law.

Investigators also determined that the eight of the nine men in that stop were in the US illegally, and were citizens of Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras who had previously been deported from the United States and had illegally returned. They were  charged with unlawful reentry into the country.

Officers determined that Alvarez and Hernandez Reyes were transporting the illegal immigrants from their home base of Houston, Texas, to different locations throughout the United States. -JTN

Hernandez Reyes pleaded guilty in August 2020 to smuggling illegal aliens, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison plus three years of supervised release – after which he was slated to face deportation proceedings which carried a 10-year prison threat if he returns.

In the case of Abrego Garcia, he was stopped for driving erratically and speeding, on an expired driver’s license, by a Tennessee state trooper in November of 2022 – similarly transporting a large group of people from Houston, Texas.

Three weeks after the stop, on Dec. 27, 2022, DHS updated its records to urge any personnel who encountered Abrego Garcia to “escort to secondary” – a designation usually applied to someone suspected of wrongdoing.

DHS records also show that Abrego Garcia was offered a chance to claim he required humanitarian assistance for illness or had other reasons for seeking refuge from persecution – two grounds for asylum, but he declined, and instead told authorities he was willing to leave the United States.