President Donald Trump shredded Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his defenders on Sunday, claiming Democrats and the press “are falsely” portraying the deported MS-13 gang suspect as “a very sweet and innocent person.”
Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump described such characterization as a “total, blatant, and dangerous LIE,” adding that those who have been lying to the public about Garcia’s past “have to be held responsible.”
“Radical Lunatic Democrats and their Comrades in the Fake News Media are falsely making Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia out to be a very sweet and innocent person, which is a total, blatant, and dangerous LIE,” Trump wrote. “Garcia has been found by two separate Courts to be a member of the violent, killer gang MS-13, was in our Country illegally, and is under a Deportation Order.”
He added: “It is despicable and unAmerican for Liberals and the Mainstream Media to hate our Country so much, and be obsessed with protecting criminals, instead of working to keep our Border, streets, and families safe. Those lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Most of the legacy media has focused on the fact that a federal judge “paused” Garcia’s deportation order in 2019 after two immigration courts found him to be a member of the MS-13 gang. But the court only said that he couldn’t be deported to his home country of El Salvador — ironically — over fear of rival gangs.
However, as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller explained to Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer last week, the situation between then and now has changed with Garcia.
After Hemmer claimed that Garcia was “mistakenly” deported, Miller jumped in. “I want to correct that. I hate to do it, Bill. I have to correct you on everything you said. It was all wrong,” Miller began.
“First, we won the Supreme Court case, clearly, 9-0,” he added, noting a recent Supreme Court ruling that only said the administration had to attempt to “facilitate” Garcia’s return.
“A District Court judge said unconscionably the president and his administration have to go into El Salvador and extradite one of their citizens. That would be kidnapping. We have to kidnap an El Salvador citizen against the will of his government and fly him back to America. An unimaginable invasion of El Salvador,” Miller continued.
“They said the most a court can ever compel you to do is facilitate return, which means if El Salvador voluntarily sends him back we wouldn’t block him in the airport, we would put him back in ICE detention and then he would be deported back to El Salvador or somewhere else,” Miller said. “The Supreme Court said that’s the most the government can be expected to do. So, we won the case. The misreporting on this has been atrocious.”
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Miller insisted that the claim Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported originated from a now-terminated Justice Department employee who, he noted, was a Democrat, in correcting the record.
“He was not mistakenly sent to El Salvador. He was an illegal alien from El Salvador. In 2019 he was ordered deported. He has a final removal order from the United States. These are things that no one disputes. Where is he from? El Salvador. A resident and citizen of? El Salvador. Is he here illegally? Yes. Does he have a deportation order? Yes,” Miller continued.
“A DOJ Lawyer who has been relieved of duty, a saboteur, a Democrat put into a filing, incorrectly, that this was a mistaken removal. It was not. It was the right person sent to the right place,” he added.
Hemmer eventually managed to cut in, asking: “I want to ask you a question. Are you convinced he is still a member of MS-13? Your original charge.”
“Yes. But here is the thing, Bill. Yes, not only am I convinced of it, not only is El Salvador convinced of it,” Miller replied before adding: “He is an illegal alien from El Salvador with a deportation order! So, his only options in life, Bill, his only options in life, are to be deported to El Salvador or to be deported to some other country. That’s it. He has a deportation order.”