What Donald Trump said in first reaction on deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia linked to MS-13

US President Donald Trump on Friday defended the controversial deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident despatched to El Salvador final month regardless of a courtroom order defending him from removing.
Sharing a photograph of a tattooed hand allegedly belonging to Abrego Garcia, Trump said, “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.’ They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles… I must be allowed to do my job. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump’s remarks got here amid renewed political controversy following the discharge of recent pictures of Abrego Garcia, who appeared relaxed and smiling whereas sipping margaritas with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen in El Salvador.
The pictures have been posted on X by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who mocked earlier claims that Abrego Garcia was being tortured, saying: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen.”
Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported on March 15 regardless of an lively US immigration courtroom order blocking his removing. His attorneys declare the deportation violated each due course of and worldwide regulation. The US Supreme Court has upheld a decrease courtroom’s ruling demanding efforts to return him, however White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Wednesday that “Abrego Garcia will never live in the United States of America,” alleging MS-13 ties and home violence accusations.
His spouse, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has denied these claims, stating the restraining order cited by Leavitt was filed “out of caution” and later resolved via counselling. “This is about due process and the rule of law,” Van Hollen said after assembly Abrego Garcia on Thursday. “We won’t give up until Kilmar has his due process rights respected.”
Senator Van Hollen’s go to to El Salvador was partly blocked by Salvadoran officers, who refused him entry to the high-security CECOT jail the place Abrego Garcia was reportedly held. El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Ulloa additionally rejected a request to launch the detainee, saying his authorities has no plans to return him.
Democrats argue the case illustrates the Trump administration’s disregard for authorized norms, with Rep. Robert Garcia calling it “a constitutional crisis.” A Democratic delegation, together with Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Maxwell Frost, is planning a go to to El Salvador to assess Abrego Garcia’s standing.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have praised the deportation. Reps. Riley Moore and Jason Smith visited the CECOT jail, supporting Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The administration has additionally invoked previous crimes by Salvadoran nationals in the US to justify its coverage, together with the 2023 homicide of Rachel Morin.