The wife of a Maryland man who the United States government mistakenly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador stood in defense of her husband while acknowledging that she filed for a civil protective order four years ago. 

“After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following 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 the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,” Jennifer Vasquez Sura said in a statement to multiple outlets on Wednesday.

Sura rebuked President Trump’s administration after the U.S. government recently shared filings from 2021 that showed she was looking for a protective order, accusing her husband of punching, scratching her and ripping her shift off. 

The order prevented Abrego Garcia from getting in touch, and the Salvadorian national was directed not to abuse her. 

“Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect,” Sura said. “But 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 removal.”

“Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him,” she added. 

The Department of Homeland Security released a copy of the protected order on Wednesday. 

Abrego Garcia was deported to the Salvadorian high-security prison last month in what the Department of Justice (DOJ) said was an “administrative error.” The U.S. government has contended that Abrego Garcia is a dangerous criminal and a member of the MS-13 gang, based on details provided by an informant in 2019. He has not been charged with a crime. 

Sura, Abrego Garcia and his attorney have denied the claims that he is a member of the transnational gang designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. 

On Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to lift a justice’s order that the administration “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return and slammed the DOJ in the ruling. 

“The relief the government is requesting is both extraordinary and premature. While we fully respect the Executive’s robust assertion of its Article II powers, we shall not micromanage the efforts of a fine district judge attempting to implement the Supreme Court’s recent decision,” U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson said.

The White House amplified the publishing of Sura’s protective order on Wednesday and went after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who traveled to El Salvador to visit the Maryland man currently held at CECOT prison.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it is “appalling” that Van Hollen and Democratic lawmakers are supporting the senator’s trip to El Salvador, arguing they 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 Wednesday.