The photo evidence comes after Democratic lawmakers claimed that the Trump administration unlawfully deported illegal immigrant Abrego Garcia to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CEDOT), who had been residing in the United States with his wife in Maryland. This resulted in Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) travelling to El Salvador in an attempt to bring the foreign terrorist back to the US.
"This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such a 'fine and innocent person,'" President Trump wrote on X. "They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he's got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles, and two Highly Respected Courts found that he was a member of MS-13, beat up his wife, etc. I was elected to take bad people out of the United States, among other things. I must be allowed to do my job. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
President Trump released the evidence after Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Abrego Garcia, shared a photo of the pair on social media that covered up his tattoos with cartoon hearts. The red hearts were placed over his knuckles, which resulted in calls for photos of the MS-13 gang member's hand tattoos to be released.
The tattoos include a marijuana leaf, a smile, a cross, as well as a skull. The cross and skull are disguising the number "13" on the last two digits of his hand.
In March, Abrego Garcia was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to El Salvador shortly after.
Abrego Garcia confessed to having entered the United States unlawfully in 2012, and he was later apprehended in Maryland in 2019. Abrego Garcia was identified as an MS-13 gang member by officers at the time of his arrest. He was with two other individuals involved with MS-13 when taken into custody, according to authorities.
In 2019, an immigration court determined that "the determination that the Respondent [Abrego Garcia] is a gang member appears to be trustworthy and is supported by other evidence in the record, namely, information contained in the Gang Field Interview Sheet." Nevertheless, he was subsequently granted a deportation withholding order on the grounds that he professed a fear for his life if he were to return to El Salvador. However, it is reported that he informed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prior to his recent deportation that he had no apprehensions about returning to his country of origin.
Despite the Department of Justice and two federal judges declaring Abrego Garcia a member of the MS-13 terror group, Democratic lawmakers and their mainstream media allies refuted the allegations and portrayed the illegal alien gang member as an innocent "Maryland dad." It has also been revealed that Abrego Garcia previously beat his wife in a domestic violence assault, and was under investigation for human trafficking allegations in Tennessee.
