On April 1, 2025, U.S. Vice President JD Vance claimed on X that a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, 29-year-old Kilmar
Vance was replying to former President Barack Obama's speechwriter and "Pod Save America" host Jon Favreau, who asked Vance to comment on "accidentally sending an innocent father from Maryland to a torture dungeon in El Salvador." Favreau referenced The Atlantic's reporting of
My comment is that according to the court document you apparently didn't read he was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here.
My further comment is that it's gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize. https://t.co/cPnloeyXYk— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 1, 2025
Following Vance's post, which received over 140,000 likes as of this writing, some X users supported his claim and others said he lied. Snopes readers also searched our website for information on Abrego Garcia's alleged MS-13 ties.
Vance's claim is false. In fact, court filings from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement specifically say officials removed Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen, due to "administrative error" and his "purported membership in MS-13." Although the same court documents say ICE officials arrested Abrego Garcia in connection to MS-13, the use of the word "purported" acknowledges that Arbrego Garcia has never been convicted of any MS-13 gang activity.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement court filing which says that Abrego Garcia's removal from the United States was an "oversight" and that he has "purported membership in MS-13." (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
Abrego Garcia, through court filings, has repeatedly denied any membership with MS-13; a complaint filed on March 24 over his removal to El Salvador against a later order from another immigration judge said on Page 5 that "Abrego Garcia is not a member of or has no affiliation with Tren de Aragua, MS-13, or any other criminal or street gang."
"Although he has been accused of general 'gang affiliation,' the U.S. government has never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation," the complaint continued on Page 5.
According to The Associated Press, a federal judge on April 4
The Supreme Court largely affirmed the district judge's order in a unanimous, unsigned opinion on April 10. However, the Trump administration has repeatedly said they cannot and will not bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States; El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, also told reporters that he would not return Abrego Garcia, calling the question "preposterous." (An unofficial transcript of Bukele's conversation is available in court documents; see Page 13.)
As of this writing, Abrego Garcia is still incarcerated in El Salvador. Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador in an attempt to discuss his constituent's return but said in an April 16 news conference following a meeting with Salvadoran officials that they did not allow him to see Abrego Garcia (see video at 13:05 mark).
Vance doubled down on claim, citing faulty evidence
After Politico legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney accurately pointed out on X that the court filings do not say that Abrego Garcia was convicted of anything, Vance said on X about an hour after his original post that Cheney was "apparently unable or unwilling to look at the facts here."
"In 2019, an Immigration Judge (under the first Trump administration) determined that the deported man was, in fact, a member of the MS-13 gang. He also apparently had multiple traffic violations for which he failed to appear in court," Vance said. (His initial post said the "Biden administration," not the "Trump administration," which Vance later corrected and clarified in another post.)
Court documents filed by Abrego Garcia's attorneys said he has no criminal charges or convictions in the United States, El Salvador or any other country. In fact, documents released by Attorney General Pam Bondi also specifically say that Abrego Garcia has no criminal history, although they also claim he has "been identified as a Member/Active of MS-13." (Abrego Garcia's first name is spelled wrong in this document, but Bondi's post on X said these documents provide "additional information on Kilmar Abrego Garcia."); a search for Abrego Garcia's name in Maryland's judiciary court case system returned no results.
(U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
The court filing from ICE did say that in an April 2019 hearing, an immigration judge denied Abrego Garcia bond "because 'the evidence show[ed] that he is a verified member of [Mara Salvatrucha] ('MS-13')]" and therefore posed a danger to the community" (Page 2).
However, again, an immigration judge's determination is not the same as a conviction. Merriam-Webster defines "conviction" as "the act or process of finding a person guilty of a crime especially in a court of law." But in this case, Abrego Garcia was at a bond hearing, meaning the judge's ruling determined whether Abrego Garcia would stay in ICE custody. The immigration detention system in the United States is legally classified as civil, not criminal, meaning this hearing was not over a criminal conviction in the first place.
ICE also acknowledged that a judge later "prohibited his removal to El Salvador" (Page 3). ICE officials then arrested Abrego Garcia in March 2025 due to his "prominent role in MS-13," but the court filing does not provide any evidence of his supposed MS-13 membership.
White House supported Vance's claim but cited no evidence
Following Vance's post, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on April 1 in a briefing to media that there is "a lot of evidence" to back up the vice president's claim (see 14:24). When reporters pressed her for more details, she pivoted:
Reporter: A few questions about this deportation case. First, I wanted to clarify something you said to Jeff a few minutes ago. You said you've seen evidence that this man was a convicted gang member. In what court was he convicted and for what?
Leavitt: This individual was an MS-13 ringleader. This individual was also engaged in human trafficking. And I'm glad you brought up this point again, because I would like to point out: If you just saw the headline from the insane failing Atlantic magazine this morning, you would think this individual was father of the year, living in Maryland, living a peaceful life, when that couldn't be further from the truth.
They didn't even mention in the title of the article or even in the first paragraph that this individual is an illegal criminal who broke our nation's immigration laws. He is a leader in the brutal MS-13 gang and he is involved in human trafficking. And now MS-13 is a designated foreign terrorist organization. Foreign terrorists have no legal protections in the United States of America. And this administration is going to continue to deport foreign terrorists and illegal criminals from our nation's interior.
The full exchange between Leavitt and reporters is available on PBS' YouTube page; she speaks on Abrego Garcia's case at 13:16 and again at 20:48.
In response to Leavitt's comments, a reporter correctly pointed out that "a judge ordered that he should remain in this country." Abrego Garcia won an order in October 2019 prohibiting the government from removing him to El Salvador due to possible persecution from Salvadoran gangs; he initially left El Salvador in 2011 because he was fleeing gang violence, according to his attorneys (pages 5 and 9).
As of this writing, the White House has yet to provide credible proof that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member. According to his attorneys, the only evidence ICE has provided to support its claim was an interview sheet
The sheet, described on Page 7, "explained that the only reason to believe Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was a gang member was that he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie; and that a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13" in the New York chapter — a state Abrego Garcia has never lived in. This aligns with the documents released by Bondi, which includes this interview sheet on Page 3. Here's the entire section on Abrego Garcia:
Officers then interviewed Kilmar Armando ABREGO-GARCIA. During the interview officers observed he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations. Officers know such clothing to be indicative of the Hispanic gang culture. The meaning of the clothing is to represent "ver, oir y callar" or "see no evil, hear- no evil and say no evil". Wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents thay they are a member in good standing with the MS-13. Officers contacted a past proven and reliable source of information, who advised Kilmar Armando ABREGO-GARCIA is an active member of MS-13 with the Westerns clique. The confidential source further advised that he is the rank of "Chequeo" with the moniker of "Chele".
Thus, evidence that Abrego Garcia had any position in MS-13 is scant and primarily the word of a confidential informant; furthermore, it is definitively false that he was convicted of a crime in connection with gang activity.