CNN —
The wife of the Maryland man who the US government mistakenly deported to El Salvador acknowledged that she had filed a civil protective order against him four years ago, but said it was out of an abundance of caution and that the couple had worked through their issues.
The statement Wednesday from Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, came after the Department of Homeland Security posted on X a copy of a protective order that Vasquez Sura requested against her husband in 2021.
CNN has also reviewed the petition for a protective order provided by a Homeland Security official describing a disagreement and physical altercation that included hitting and “scratching” between Abrego Garcia and Vasquez Sura.
The Trump administration’s release of the documents come as part of its renewed push to portray Abrego Garcia, who has not been charged with or convicted of any crime, as a violent and dangerous criminal and a member of MS-13.
“Based on the sensationalism of many of the people in this room, you would think we deported a candidate for Father of the Year,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
Abrego Garcia’s wife and lawyers have denied he is part of a gang.
In her statement to CNN, Vasquez Sura said she sought a civil protective order in 2021 after a disagreement with Abrego Garcia. Vasquez Sura noted she had survived a previous relationship that included domestic violence. She did not appear at a court hearing and the matter did not proceed.
“Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process,” she said in the statement. “We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling. Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect.”
“That is not a justification for ICE’s action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation,” she added. “Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.”
In court hearings over the deportation of Abrego Garcia, the federal judge overseeing the case has repeatedly asked the Justice Department to provide additional information about him, including any charges or convictions, but, so far, none has been provided. The civil protective order has not been filed in the case or been an issue in his mistaken deportation.
“The government made a choice here to produce no evidence,” DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni told the judge earlier this month. Reuveni was later fired.
Wednesday, Leavitt returned to the podium to publicize the Maryland protective order as well as attack Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen for traveling to El Salvador in an attempt to see Abrego Garcia.
“It’s appalling and sad that Sen. Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens. Nobody knows this more than the woman standing to my right, Patty Morin, whose beautiful daughter, Rachel, was brutally maimed and murdered at the hands of an illegal alien in August of 2023,” Leavitt said.
Rachel Morin was attacked and killed by a fugitive from El Salvador while hiking in 2023. Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was convicted of Morin’s murder and rape on Monday.
CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg and Kit Maher contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
