Donald Trump’s allies and administration officials have repeatedly sought to justify the ongoing detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Salvadoran prisons, where he has been locked up for more than a month, on allegations of criminality against him.
But while they raise allegations in public, the claims are largely nowhere in court documents in a high-profile legal battle for his return.
In a heated exchange during a House committee hearing on May 14, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene repeatedly accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13 and sought to introduce documents into the hearing’s record she suggested were proof.
“Well, I object,” fired back Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman. “Is that a court order that establishes … that he’s a member of MS-13?”
“A Maryland County Police Gang Unit agreed that he’s MS-13” and “an appellate board agreed that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, your Maryland man, is MS-13,” said Greene, mocking descriptions of the Salvadoran father and sheet metal worker who was living in Maryland with his wife and child, both U.S. citizens, along with two other children from a previously relationship.
Chairman Mark Green demanded the committee “pause” over repeated interruptions.
“I object because she is misstating the record and the facts. That is not accurate, and therefore I object to that being introduced,” Goldman said.
Green was forced to call for a recess, after which Goldman agreed to withdraw his objection, noting that the congresswoman was introducing a “tweet” from Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The MS-13 allegations against Abrego Garcia largely rest on a statement from an unnamed police informant in 2019. Abrego Garcia was wearing Chicago Bulls gear when he was arrested that year, which law enforcement agents allege is linked to gang membership. The informant claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13’s “Westerns” clique, which operates out of New York, where Abrego Garcia has never lived. He has never been charged with or convicted of being a member of any gang.
Administration officials also have pointed to his tattoos as evidence of alleged ties to MS-13, which his family and attorneys flatly reject.
Throughout the hearing, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — who was testifying to defend her agency’s budget requests — labeled Abrego Garcia “a terrorist” and “wife beater and known trafficker who should never have been in this country to begin with.”
Those allegations were introduced publicly by administration officials after Abrego Garcia’s removal from the country, but they were not included in the lengthy legal battle playing out in a federal courtroom in Maryland.
Democrats and legal analysts argue the administration could return Abrego Garcia and then use that alleged evidence against him in normal immigration court removal hearings, but the government is refusing to do so.
Lawyers for the administration have raised a “state secrets” privilege to try to avoid answering a federal judge’s questions about what steps, if any, they have taken to secure Abrego Garcia’s release, after federal judges and the Supreme Court commanded the government to “facilitate” his return.
“Will you give Mr Abrego Garcia the due process that the Supreme Court … has required you to give him?” Goldman said, pointing to the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision labeling Abrego Garcia’s removal “illegal.”
“If he were to come back to this country, he would be immediately removed again,” Noem replied.
“How do you know?” Goldman said. “The Supreme Court has ruled 9-0 … that he hasn’t been treated appropriately. Why is your opinion better, have more authority, than the Supreme Court?”
Noem once again raised allegations against him while Goldman pressed her to answer what steps the administration has taken to secure his release.
“I’m not advocating for him,” he fired back. “I’m advocating for a court order, Madame Secretary.”
“It’s got to be extremely discouraging to be one of your constituents to see you fight for a terrorist like this, and not fight for them, is extremely alarming to me,” Noem said.
Goldman said he is “fighting for due process,” and “you should fight too.”
