DHS: Deported MS-13 Member Kilmar Abrego-Garcia Arrested with ‘Rolls of Cash and Drugs’

The deported El Salvadoran migrant now being defended by Democrats was arrested with “rolls of cash and drugs” according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), backing up prior court findings that he is a member of the violent gang MS-13.

Shooting back at left-wing sympathy for Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, the 29-year-old illegal migrant who was arrested and deported back to El Salvador from Maryland in March, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the evidence points to him being part of the gang:

McLaughlin also took to the media to say that Abrego-Garcia is back home where he belongs, destroying the Democrats’ “innocent Maryland father” message:

“I think that this illegal alien is exactly where he belongs, home in El Salvador,” the DHS spokeswoman said during an appearance on Fox News. “He was in our country illegally, he’s from El Salvador, was born in El Salvador, and oh, the media forgot to mention — he is an MS-13 gang member.”

“The media would love for you to believe that this is a media darling, that he’s just some Maryland father. Osama Bin Laden was also a father, and yet he wasn’t a good guy,” McLaughlin continued. “And they actually are both terrorists. He should be in this El Salvador prison, prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there.”

She also thanked El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for holding Abrego-Garcia in the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). 

In a separate appearance on ABC News, McLaughlin said she is “glad” that the “member of MS-13” is off the streets:

“He is a member of MS-13. I don’t think you’d want to be his neighbor… he has been involved in human trafficking… and he should not be in this country,” she stated. “So, whether he is in an El Salvadoran jail or a U.S. detention facility, I am so very glad — as are millions of Americans — that he is off U.S. streets.”

DHS Sec. Kristi Noem also issued a statement, saying the “liberal left and fake news” are carrying water for an “MS-13 gang member” who has “trafficking in his background.”

While the Trump administration has maintained that Abrego-Garcia is an illegal gang member — though admitted that he was mistakenly transferred to CECOT — Democrats have been rallying around him in support. 

Taking time off from the job his constituents elected him to do, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday to advocate for Abrego-Garcia’s return to the United States, Breitbart News reported.

“He was illegally abducted and needs to come home,” the senator said as he headed to meet with officials at the U.S. embassy:

DHS has already put Van Hollen on blast for his antics, stating that he has “done more to bring a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland than he has to help keep his American constituents safe or advocate for the victims of these vicious gangs like MS-13”:

“While Senator Van Hollen and the mainstream media peddle a sob story about a brutal MS-13 gang member, Secretary Noem stands with the victims of illegal alien crime, like Maryland mom Rachel Morin,” the department added in a fiery X post. “We hear far too much about the gang members’ and criminals’ sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, D.C. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.