You know that picture sent out by Trump of the Abrego Garcia's tattooed knuckles. Yeah... it's a photoshop. ‘He’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles’: Trump appears to hold up altered image of Abrego Garcia’s hand The spelled-out ‘MS-13’ doesn’t appear on his hand in recent photos of Abrego Garcia posted on his wife’s TikTok account https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...trump-kilmar-abrego-garcia-hand-b2735920.html
You rebut or you accept, you don't get away with just repeating debunked claims. I dealt with all of that and it as insult to basic intelligence what Justice and Homeland are trying to pass off.
Editing MS13 into the photo is pure show trial theatre at the mental level of that Python sketch, the one where the villagers put a false nose on the witch. What's next? Pam Bondi: "he turned me into a newt!" Supreme Court: "A newt?" Pam Bondi "…I got better."
If a U.S. President is going to present an obviously doctored photo as "evidence" that someone is a gang member Then how can any rational person trust the other "evidence" that the Trump administration is shoveling that an individual is a gang member? Of course, all the right-wing news outlets -- Fox News, Newsmax, The Federalist, etc. -- just spend their time parroting the administration's fabricated talking points.
I had a look last night at a US gang symbols list and there's nothing. Can you imagine him saying to a guy with MS 13 on his FACE as they do, explaining that it's Marajuana leaf for "M", Smiley face for S (but not in Spanish).... He'd be shot.
Not to mention, it just came to me late as the obvious tends to do. Back in 2019, four guys were arrested in that constructor materials parking lot. One of them was released without being listed as a gang member. That detail matters. It shows how thin the line is. If a regular person had been with them, not steering clear, not actively distancing themselves out of caution, why was a civilian with them and if one, why not two? He was released because they believed he was looking for day labor work? I expect we may also see a high visibility construction shirt on that guys photo too just like the one Garcia was wearing.
"Here’s what the police record said. Garcia and three other men were arrested outside a Home Depot by Hyattsville City Police in Maryland, and as police approached them, “two of the individuals reached into their waistbands and discarded several unknown items under a parked vehicle,” according to the affidavit. One of the men, Christhyan Hernandez-Romero, was immediately recognized by police as a member of the MS-13 Sailors Clique. Hernandez-Romero, police said, “has an extensive criminal history for multiple assault, concealing dangerous weapon, burglary and many other offenses.” They even knew his rank and moniker, which was “Bimbo.” Another of the men, Jose Guillermo Dominguez, was covered in MS-13 gang tattoos and was identified by “a past proven and reliable source” as an active MS-13 gang member with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Maniaco.” As for Garcia, police recognized his clothing as “indicative of Hispanic gang culture,” and that he was a “member in good standing with the MS-13.” The same confidential informant told police that Garcia had the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Chele.” In addition, the arrest record shows that Garcia was by his own admission an illegal alien from El Salvador who had entered the U.S. by walking across the border near McAllen, Texas, in March 2012. At the time of his arrest in Maryland while loitering outside a Home Depot, he had $1,178 in cash on him. Several plastic bottles containing marijuana were also found near the men after their arrest. The fourth man was released after police were unable to determine his gang affiliation, which calls into serious question the claim by Garcia’s lawyers that the cops were just making up his affiliation with MS-13. If so, why didn’t they do so with this fourth man?"
This is too lazy and low IQ to engage with. This has all been dissected and dismissed already, even by the judge at the time who granted him protection. Now here's where logic comes in: If the government had actual, credible evidence that García was an active MS-13 member, why did an immigration judge in 2019 deny asylum but still grant him withholding of removal, a protection explicitly reserved for individuals facing likely persecution or death if deported? Withholding of removal is not given lightly. It requires a finding that a person's life or freedom would be threatened due to factors like political opinion or membership in a particular social group and that they are not a danger to the community or a serious criminal. That ruling alone undercuts DHS's entire narrative. Even more damning: the Department of Homeland Security did not appeal that judge’s decision. They accepted it until five years later, when they quietly deported him in violation of that same order, prompting a federal judge in 2025 to label the deportation "lawless" and "shocking to the conscience." The Supreme Court unanimously agreed. The arrest record is even ambiguous as to who had the cash and it's not linked to Garcia.
https://time.com/7278832/trump-caved-on-abrego-garcia-deportation-move-in-2019/ The U.S. District Court Judge handling Abrego Garcia’s case, Paula Xinis, has ordered officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to sit for depositions by April 23 about how his removal was handled and allowed Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to demand documents about his case. When the Trump administration tried to quash those instructions at the Fourth Circuit court of appeals, three federal judges said Trump must comply. “The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order," wrote conservative circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, who was appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan. Even though the Trump administration asserts that Abrego Garcia is a terrorist and a member of MS-13, the judge wrote, "he is still entitled to due process. If the government is confident of its position, it should be assured that position will prevail in proceedings to terminate the withholding of removal order.” Not complicated, follow the law or fall into tyranny. The immigration judge had looked at the information alleging Abrego Garcia’s gang ties provided by the Department of Homeland Security and determined it wasn’t sufficient to prove he was a member of the gang, according to court documents. Instead, the judge gave weight to testimony from his family that a separate gang called Barrio 18 in El Salvador had threatened Abrego Garcia with death because his family would not pay the gang protection money. The judge acknowledged that Abrego Garcia’s case wasn’t a slam dunk. “This case is a close call,” Judge David M. Jones wrote in his order. At the end of the order is a line that says “each party has the right to appeal this decision” within 30 days. The Trump lead government didn't appeal.
And now we have some info on the claim of human trafficking. More nothing burger. This was yet another example of a loaded insinuation getting more airtime than the actual facts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1k4072e3nno "On 15 April, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also accused Mr Abrego Garcia of involvement in human trafficking. She appeared to be referencing a report in The Tennessee Star, a conservative news website, which claimed Mr Abrego Garcia was detained by a Tennessee highway patrol officer on suspicion of human trafficking in December 2022. A report by the Department of Homeland Security said he was stopped for speeding and not staying in his lane. There were eight other people in the car without luggage, the report said, which led the officer to suspect it could be a case of human trafficking. However, there was no criminal case lodged against Mr Abrego Garcia. "Kilmar worked in construction and sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, so it's entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle," Ms Vasquez Sura said about the incident. "