April 4, 2025 / 7:06 PM EDT / CBS Baltimore
For Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the last three weeks have been a “nightmare” filled with uncertainty. On March 12th, her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, left work at his sheet metal job in Baltimore City. He picked up their 5-year-old special needs child in Prince George’s County when immigration agents took him into custody.
His wife said they called her and told her she had ten minutes to pick up her son before he was turned over to child protective services.
“It’s a journey that no one ever should have to suffer—a nightmare that feels endless,” she said.
“My husband Kilmar was abducted by the U.S. government,” she told reporters at a rally before his Friday court hearing. “In the blink of an eye, our three children lost their father, and I lost the love of my life.”
A picket sign is held up during a rally denouncing the Trump administrations holding of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. Mike Hellgren
Abrego Garcia was taken to the notoriously dangerous CECOT prison in El Salvador.
The family said they hired an attorney in El Salvador but were unable to reach him.
His wife first noticed him in pictures posted by the media in El Salvador.
She said she would give any amount of money for “a phone call to hear Kilmar’s voice again and have the opportunity to talk to him and the kids again. Kilmar, if you can hear me, I miss you so much, and I’m doing the best to fight for you and our children.”
Baltimore union support
Abrego Garcia first came to Maryland as a teenager to live with his brother. According to court documents, he entered the country illegally.
In 2019, he was arrested at a Home Depot in Hyattsville. Authorities alleged, based on an informant, that he was a member of MS-13.
A judge later determined he was not a gang member and prohibited the U.S. from deporting him—saying he could be targeted by gangs if sent back to El Salvador.
He gained employment as a sheet metal apprentice and was on a new job site in Baltimore City the day he was arrested.
“We are here today unified for one purpose, and that is to bring brother Kilmar back home where he belongs with his family,” Michael Coleman, the general president of the SMART union, said Friday. “He has no criminal record in his past. He goes to work every day as a sheet metal worker in a very demanding industry so he can provide for his family.”
Courtroom Victory
Abrego Garcia’s wife was anxious as she entered the federal courthouse in Greenbelt on Friday.
After a hearing that lasted almost two hours, Judge Paula Xinis handed her a victory.
“He was apprehended without legal basis… and without due process,” Judge Xinis ruled.
She ordered the Trump Administration to return Abrego Garcia to the United States by 11:59 p.m. on Monday.
“The plaintiff should not have been removed. That is not in dispute,” the government’s attorney Erez Reuveni said.
When Judge Xinis asked, “On what basis is he held? Why is he held there of all places?” Reuveni told her, “I don’t know.”
Reuveni also admitted, “The absence of evidence speaks for itself.”
Now, his wife waits to see if the government will comply.
She thanked supporters outside court.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura thanking supporters outside a Greenbelt courthouse on Friday. Mike Hellgren
“To anybody who can hear my voice, keep fighting for Kilmar and all the other Kilmars who are out there, whose stories are still waiting to be heard,” she said.
WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren came to WJZ in the spring of 2004. Solid reporting credentials and a reputation for breaking important news stories have characterized Mike’s work. Mike holds a B.S. degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and grew up partly in both Chicago and Louisiana.
