President Donald Trump repeatedly clashed with Terry Moran of ABC News over whether Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador by the US government in March, ignored court orders, had tattooed his knack.
In an interview with ABC that aired on April 29th, Trump mentioned the image he shared on his true social platform on April 18th.
In the image, each finger has a left hand with one tattoo. Marijuana leaves, letter X of the eye, cross, and smiley face of the skull. You will also see “M”, “S”, “1”, and “3” in the fonts printed on top of these tattoos. Words describing picture tattoos are also displayed under each of the small printed typefaces.
Trump claimed he said “MS13” in Abrego Garcia’s hands. Moran said it was contested, and some said the tattoo was “interpreted that way.” The President said, “Don’t do that. m, s, 1, 3, it says m, s, 1, 3.”
Moran retorted, “It was Photoshop.”
He tried to move on, but Trump continued. “Terry, would you like me to show you a photo?” Trump said. “He had as clear m as you could. It’s not interpreted.”
After Moran tried to move on to questions about Ukraine again, Trump said Abrego Garcia has obtained the ‘MS13’ with his knuckle.
The interview goes far beyond the impression Trump left when he shared his true social image of what he said was Abrego Garcia’s finger tattoo, as he claimed that the “MS13” tattoo was part of the evidence used to expel him.
When asked to comment from the White House, a spokesman said law enforcement or immigration officers with ground experience could link Abrego Garcia tattoos to the MS-13 gang.
The words under the letters M, S, 1, 3 and symbols do not appear in other photos of Abrego Garcia’s hands, including those taken by Salvadra government officials when they met Chris Van Hollen Jr. on April 17th.
Kilmer Abrego Garcia miraculously resurrects from “death camp” and “torture” and sips a margarita with Senator Van Hollen in El Salvador’s tropical paradise!
– Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 18, 2025
The tattoos don’t even appear in the photos of Abrego Garcia’s family shared by immigration advocates.
An MS-13 expert told Politifact that none of the tattoos in the photographs are known symbols for the MS-13.
Abrego Garcia case and gang allegations
On March 15, the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to Secott, a Salvador mega prison that sent hundreds of Salvadorans and Venezuelan men previously in the United States. However, Abrego Garcia had a protective order that was supposed to prevent him from being deported to El Salvador. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Counsel acknowledged that they were aware of the restrictions and called his removal “surveillance” and “mismanagement.”
The Trump administration said Abrego Garcia and others who were deported to El Salvador are members of the MS-13 gang, and Abrego Garcia and his lawyers denied it in court filings. All men were deported without legitimate procedures. The government did not present evidence of gang membership before the judge in the deportation case, and immigrants were not given the opportunity to protect themselves. The New York Times reported that most of the 238 men deported to El Salvador have no criminal history in the United States or document links with Venezuelan prison gangs.
When Abrego Garcia was arrested in March 2019, police informants told police he was an MS-13 member, according to a report known as the “Gangfield Interview Sheet.” The judge initially found that government evidence regarding Abrego Garcia’s gang membership in 2019 was “reliable” and supported by the appeal. Two federal judges then ruled that government information was not supported. It was based on the clothing Abrego Garcia wore at his 2019 arrest, and from what police officers have since called a confidential source.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say that accusations of membership in the MS-13 gang have been manufactured. They tried to reverse his deportation, but the government insisted that it could not take action since he left our jurisdiction.
The US Supreme Court ruled that the government must “promote” the release of Abrego Garcia. News reports show that Abrego Garcia was later transferred to a low-security prison.
What does tattoos mean in photos?
Regarding the tattoos in the paintings on Abrego Garcia’s hands, marijuana leaves, crosses and skulls are widely used by people who do not belong to the gang. Gang crime experts said it was not noticeable as an MS-13 marker.
“I don’t think a dangerous individual has such anody and sexually common tattoos in his hand,” said Liliana Castaneda Rothman, professor of San Marcos Emerita at California State University and author of the book’s gang.
Sean Kennedy, a former federal defense attorney in California and now a professor at Loyola Law School, said in his experience of dialogue with current and former MS-13 members, “picture tattoos are not familiar to me.”
Such a design doesn’t have the personality to have a typical MS-13 tattoo, Kennedy said.
“In the MS-13 culture, such markings can be seen as a frown and a sign of ward disease, as they could be interpreted as an attempt to hide or underestimate gang affiliation,” Kennedy said. “That type of concealment goes against gang norms, which often demands a bold, visible demonstration of identity and loyalty.”
Charles Katz, director of Arizona State’s Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety, agreed.
Katz said local law enforcement is well versed in specific tattoo designs in certain regions, but “I have been working on issues related to MS-13 in El Salvador and the United States for the past 15 years. I have never seen tattoos or graffiti that suggest that these specific tattoos are related to MS-13.”
Experts said that as long as the tattoo is one of multiple evidences, it could help identify gang members.
“Police gang experts often use so-called gang tattoos as circumstantial evidence of suspected gang involvement, but in my experience, they don’t use tattoos alone as conclusive evidence of gang affiliation.” “This is especially true when, as in here, tattoos are vague and can reflect anything other than gang Thai, such as religion, loss, personal transformation, and cultural identity.”
Our arbitration
Trump said Abrego Garcia “had a tattooed ‘MS-13’ on his knuckle… he was as clear and uninterpreted as you could.”
The words below the figures M, S, 1, 3 and symbols will not appear in other photos of Abrego Garcia’s hands, including those shared by the Salvadra government.
MS-13 and other gang experts say that the tattoos shown in the picture are not typical designs of MS-13 and other gangsters, and that some of those tattoos are commonly used by people who have no connection to gangsters.
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