New revelations are casting serious doubt on Democrats’ judgment after they publicly defended Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national recently deported by the Trump administration. According to his former employer — himself a convicted smuggler — Abrego Garcia was not just an MS-13 associate, but an active human trafficker.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Reps. Robert Garcia (CA), Maxwell Frost (FL), Yassamin Ansari (AZ), and Maxine Dexter (OR) were among the Democrats who demanded his return to the U.S., despite a growing list of red flags: illegal entry, no-shows in court, domestic violence allegations, gang ties, and findings from two separate immigration courts identifying him as a public danger.

But the most damning detail may be what Abrego Garcia’s former boss, Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, just told federal investigators: that Garcia was part of a cross-country human smuggling operation.

Back in November 2022, Abrego Garcia was pulled over by Tennessee Highway Patrol while driving erratically without a license. Troopers quickly became suspicious, noting the presence of eight undocumented passengers, no luggage, and over $1,400 in cash. Officers suggested he was trafficking migrants for profit.

“He’s getting paid to haul these people,” one trooper was heard saying on bodycam footage obtained by The Tennessee Star. Despite these clear indicators of smuggling — and the fact that Abrego Garcia was on a terrorist watch list — the FBI reportedly told troopers to document the stop and let him go with a warning.

The truck Garcia was driving was later flagged as belonging to Hernandez-Reyes, an illegal alien convicted in 2020 of smuggling migrants. Garcia even told officers at the time that Hernandez-Reyes was his boss.

Now, in interviews at a federal prison in Alabama, Hernandez-Reyes has confirmed to investigators that Garcia worked for his trafficking ring. He described operating a “taxi service” for migrants entering illegally, with Garcia hired repeatedly to drive them from Texas to other states — including Maryland, where several of his political defenders are based.

Hernandez-Reyes admitted to charging around $350 per person for these cross-country trips. Authorities found Garcia in possession of enough cash during the 2022 traffic stop to match payments for four migrants — the exact number of passengers found with him at the time.

Despite mounting evidence, including bodycam footage and direct testimony from his employer, several Democrats continued defending Garcia even after his deportation on March 15. Some, like Rep. Robert Garcia and Sen. Van Hollen, even traveled to El Salvador to protest the deportation and accuse Trump’s team of overreach.

This development could severely undermine that defense. The Department of Justice declined to comment on the latest information, but pressure is building for accountability — both for Garcia’s actions and for those who championed his cause without full knowledge of his background.

The case also raises deeper questions about FBI and DHS protocols under the Biden administration. Why was a man linked to human trafficking and MS-13 allowed to remain in the country after such a revealing traffic stop? And why was ICE told to stand down?

As this story unfolds, one thing is certain: this is a political embarrassment for Democrats who elevated Abrego Garcia into a symbol — only to discover he may have been exploiting America’s broken immigration system for profit all along.