Accused MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia allegedly worked as a “taxi service” for a convicted human smuggler to transport illegal migrants from Texas to various locations across the United States, according to a report.
Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, who was convicted of smuggling illegal migrants in 2020, told federal investigators that he previously operated a smuggling service based in Baltimore — and hired Abrego Garcia on “multiple occasions” to transport border crossers across the country, ABC News reported.
The Department of Justice sent federal agents to a prison in Talladega, Alabama, late last month to question Hernandez-Reyes, 38, about Abrego Garcia, the alleged gangbanger at the center of a high-profile court battle over his mistaken deportation from Maryland to El Salvador by the Trump administration.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was driving a car owned by Hernandez-Reyes when he was suspected of human trafficking during a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
After pulling him over for speeding, cops found eight passengers in the car but no luggage — despite the group having been on the road for three days from Texas.
Abrego Garcia told the officers he was transporting the group in his boss’s car for construction work in Maryland and was ultimately let go with a citation for driving with an expired license.
Hernandez-Reyes told federal agents that he met Abrego Garcia around 2015 when he was operating an illegal migrant “taxi service,” sources familiar with the interrogation told ABC News.
It is unclear, however, how many times Abrego Garcia was allegedly hired by Hernandez-Reyes to transport illegal migrants from the border and when.
The feds offered the convicted felon temporary immunity for speaking, the sources said.
The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia in March after invoking the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, sending him to El Salvador’s “hellhole” megaprison. He was later transferred to a lower-security facility.
Federal officials admitted he was deported despite an administrative error, but argued they had no power to bring him back to the US.
The Supreme Court has ordered the White House to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
Still, the Trump administration has defended Abrego Garcia’s deportation, citing his alleged role in MS-13’s “western clique,” purported ties to human trafficking and previous allegations of physical abuse by his wife.
He reportedly first entered the country illegally in 2011. An immigration judge handed Abrego Garcia an order shielding him from deportation in 2019, citing potential threats from MS-13’s rivals in his home country.
