During a House hearing on Wednesday, May 14, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declined to verify whether the photo President Trump used showing Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckles with alleged MS-13 tattoos had been altered. The photo appeared to have the letters and numbers “MS-13” digitally overlaid on Abrego Garcia’s four knuckle tattoos, a fact contested amid an ongoing legal battle over his wrongful deportation earlier this year to El Salvador.
In 2019, a judge determined that Abrego Garcia faced dangers from rival gangs, granting him safeguards to remain in the U.S., but despite court orders to allow his return, the Trump administration deported him in March and later acknowledged the removal was mistakenly executed. During the hearing, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., persistently asked Noem to confirm whether the photo was authentic, but she declined to validate it and dismissed the line of questioning as an unproductive use of the committee’s time.
The refusal to acknowledge the photo as doctored and the continued detention of Abrego Garcia in El Salvador suggest ongoing resistance by the administration to comply with judicial rulings and complicate efforts to secure his return.
