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White House Mocks Man Trump Illegally Deported With Obama Campaign Theme – Rolling Stone
By Naomi LaChance
Donald Trump’s White House social media accounts posted an image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the administration illegally deported to a prison in El Salvador, in the blue-and-red theme of President Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign. Instead of the word “HOPE,” it says “MS-13.”
“Ah yes, a true classic. We call this one… ‘Not a Maryland Dad,’” the White House posted on X and Instagram on Saturday.
The picture doesn’t make much sense, though it certainly fits within the Trump administration’s broader social media strategy of being inflammatory and cruel toward immigrants.
“What the fuck is this account,” an Instagram user commented under the post.
“The White House,” the official account replied.
A post shared by The White House (@whitehouse)
Abrego Garcia was deported from Maryland to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador in March in violation of a “protection from removal” order barring his deportation to the Central American nation.
A federal judge, followed by the Supreme Court, ordered that the Trump administration bring him back, which it has not done, raising the prospect of a full-blown constitutional crisis. The administration originally alleged that Abrego Garcia was deported in error. Instead of bringing him back to America, the administration has led a smear campaign against him, and the Department of Homeland Security has claimed he is a member of the MS-13 gang.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS last Wednesday that if Abrego Garcia were brought back to the U.S., the Trump administration would deport him a second time.
“[Abrego Garcia] is not under our control,” she said. “He is an El Salvador citizen. He is home there in his country. If he were to be brought back to the United States of America, we would immediately deport him again.”
Noem said that the next steps were up to El Salvador.
“President Trump and his administration has adhered to the court and respects the court and its decisions,” she said. “This individual is not under the United States of America’s jurisdiction and he is not one of our citizens. He is home in his home country. And that’s up to that country to decide what to do.”
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Noem’s department recently exposed where Abrego Garcia’s wife lived when DHS made a civil protective order public that included her address, forcing her to move to a safe house with her three children.
“I don’t feel safe when the government posts my address, the house where my family lives, for everyone to see, especially when this case has gone viral and people have all sorts of opinions,” his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, an American citizen, told the Washington Post. “So, this is definitely a bit terrifying. I’m scared for my kids.”
On Saturday, Noem claimed on Fox News that Abrego Garcia’s wife may not even want him returned home to America, and is only arguing so publicly because she is afraid of him, based on her past claims of domestic violence.
Under the social media post depicting Abrego Garcia in the style of the Obama campaign, the White House linked to a press release from DHS that alleged Abrego Garcia is a suspected human trafficker. The basis of this claim is that in 2022 he was pulled over for speeding and had eight other people in the car with no luggage. He told the state highway trooper they were returning from a construction job. In bodycam footage from the traffic stop, the man in the passenger seat appears to be covered in paint. There were no charges filed.
“The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart. We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”
Abrego Garcia, 29, came to the U.S. at age 16 after a gang threatened him and his family. In 2019, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on allegations that he was a gang member. He married his pregnant wife in a detention center, and he was still in jail when she gave birth to their child. An immigration judge then allowed him to live and work legally in the U.S. on the basis that he could face gang violence if he were to return to El Salvador.
The original image of Obama was created in 2008 by activist Shepard Fairey and featured the word “HOPE” at the bottom. It became an iconic portrait of the then soon-to-be president.
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