Amid public backlash in April 2025 for the wrongful deportation of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security publicized what appeared to be a temporary protective order filed against him by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura.
"Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a history of violence and was not the upstanding 'Maryland Man' the media has portrayed him as," DHS claimed in an April 16, 2025, X post. "According to court filings, Garcia's wife sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt, among other harm."
The allegation quickly spread on X and Facebook. News outlets reported on the claims, with headlines such as "Abrego Garcia's wife issues statement on domestic violence protective order." Snopes readers asked about the protective order and his supposed history of domestic violence.
Vasquez Sura did, in fact, file a temporary civil protective order against Abrego Garcia for alleged domestic violence in 2021; as such, we rate this claim true. But Vasquez Sura, who has vocally supported her husband amid his mistaken removal to a Salvadoran mega-prison, said in an emailed statement that she dropped the court case and the pair worked through the situation through counseling.
It is worth noting that a civil protective order is not the same as a criminal conviction for domestic violence and has a lower burden of proof. Abrego Garcia has no criminal convictions for domestic violence, nor have Vasquez Sura's allegations in her protective order been proven in criminal court.
From a legal standpoint, the 2021 order has no bearing on whether U.S. President Donald Trump's administration must return Abrego Garcia to the United States; the courts have repeatedly ruled he must be brought back. As of this writing, Abrego Garcia is still incarcerated in El Salvador; Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with him on April 17, confirming he is still alive.
The protective order
Evidence of Vasquez Sura's protective order filing is available through Maryland's judiciary case search system; a PDF of the case information provided by the system can be found here. The dates and case number listed align with the document posted on X by DHS, and Vasquez Sura has not denied that the DHS' document is authentic.
The order, filed May 5, 2021, alleges Abrego Garcia "punched and scratched" Vasquez Sura, "ripped off [her] shirt" and "grabbed and bruised" her. The "case type" listed on the Maryland judiciary search system for her civil case against Abrego Garcia is "domestic violence."
But Vasquez Sura said she filed the order "out of caution" as a survivor of domestic violence from a previous relationship and that the situation "did not escalate." Here is her full statement, first reported by Newsweek on April 16 and independently verified by Snopes via her media representative on April 18:
After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. 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. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.
ABC News also reported that Vasquez Sura wrote a
The temporary order barred Abrego Garcia from contacting her and directed him not to contact, harass or abuse her; violation of a protective order in Maryland is a crime, per the document. There is no indication Abrego Garcia violated the order and the matter was dismissed on June 17 after Vasquez Sura did not appear for a subsequent court hearing, as she stated above.
Snopes previously debunked Vice President JD Vance's claim that Abrego Garcia is a "convicted MS-13 gang member."