Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem did not let Democrat California Rep. Eric Swalwell off the hook Wednesday as he defended alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Swalwell repeatedly pointed to an image posted to Trump’s Truth Social account of what some believe is a digitally altered image of Garcia’s hand tattoos to further prove he was a member of MS-13. While being pressed by the California Democrat, Noem pointed to the evidence that Garcia is a member of MS-13, the deportation order against him issued by a judge and to the reports that he had beaten his wife.
“Madame Secretary, I have a 7-year-old, a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old, I have a bullshit detector. I’m just asking you, is this [photograph] doctored or not doctored?” Swalwell asked.
“Sir, the protocols in the case built against Abrego Garcia were exactly the same. I don’t have any knowledge as to that photo you’re pointing to,” Noem said, leading Swalwell to pressure her to look at the photo more closely. “Are you saying Abrego Garcia is not a wife beater? He is not a criminal, he’s not a human trafficker, he’s not a member of MS-13?”
Swalwell accused Noem of “vouching” for Garcia when the administration admitted that he had been mistakenly deported. Officials then maintained that Garcia should remain in his native country of El Salvador due to the evidence indicating his association with MS-13. (RELATED: Stephen Miller Lists Consequences When Democrats Help ‘Criminal, Wife-Beating, Terrorist Illegal Aliens’)
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“You vouched for [Garcia] when you said he was mistakenly deported,” Swalwell said. “I didn’t vouch for him. In that photo, it’s so telling that you won’t look at the photo.”
“You’re vouching for a man who is a known violent criminal. Sir, I did not say that, he should’ve been deported, absolutely,” Noem responded. “It was never a mistake to deport him and we will not be bringing him back to this country and staying here. If he were brought back to this country, he would be deported right away … This is unbelievable to me that you’re focused on a photo.”
Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2011, was pulled over in a Tennessee highway in 2022 and suspected of human smuggling after local authorities discovered he was transporting eight passengers with no apparent luggage. The car belonged to an illegal immigrant named Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, who was sent to prison in 2020 for human smuggling.
In December 2019, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed Garcia’s challenge to an immigration judge’s finding that he is “a verified member of MS-13,” according to documents released by the Department of Justice on April 16. Officers found Garcia loitering in a Home Depot parking lot on March 28, 2019, wearing “a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations,” which represents a “good standing” with MS-13.
Although an immigration judge ordered for Garcia to be deported, he received a withholding of removal which allowed him to work in the U.S. DHS also released a domestic violence restraining order previously sought by Abrego Garcia’s wife in 2021.
Trump sparred with ABC News’ Terry Moran in April as he insisted that the photograph showed Garcia’s real knuckle tattoos. The reporter also challenged the president to “pick up the phone” and demand Bukele bring Garcia back to the U.S., leading Trump to say he would not do so due to Garcia’s past.
The Supreme Court ruled that the administration must “facilitate” the return of Garcia, though El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on April 14 that he will not return him to the U.S.
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