Vice President JD Vance responded to comments asking him about the Trump administration admitting to sending a Salvadoran man with protected legal status to the megaprison in El Salvador by mistake.
“It’s gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize,” Vance wrote on X in response to a question about the error from “Pod Save America” host Jon Favreau.
The administration’s attorneys acknowledged in a court filing on Monday that it sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador by mistake, which was first reported by The Atlantic. However, the administration also claimed that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction to order his return from the prison where he is behind bars.
Abrego Garcia was removed from Maryland when the administration sent three planeloads of Salvadoran and Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” on March 15 for alleged gang affiliations.
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Attorneys for several removed Venezuelan migrants have emphasized that the administration has falsely labeled several of the removed migrants as gang members based on their tattoos, though administration officials have repeatedly stated those sent to the prison are the “worst of the worst.”
Certain tattoos flagged as gang-affiliated, which could lead to a migrant’s removal, include art of things like a crown or NBA legend Michael Jordan’s famous “Jumpman” logo rather than only symbols of a notable gang in El Salvador or Venezuela.
The administration maintains that those tattoos have gang affiliations.
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While responding to Favreau, who served as an aide to former President Barack Obama, Vance said “you apparently didn’t read he was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here” – referencing the court filing.
“My further comment is that it’s gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize,” the vice president added.
The court filing states that Abrego Garcia was denied bond in 2019 over an informant’s allegation that he was a member of MS-13, but he has not been convicted.
Court filings also show Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. in 2011 at the age of 16 after fleeing gang threats in El Salvador, The Atlantic reported.
Eight years later, a judge granted him a form of protected status known as “withholding of removal” after finding that he would likely be a target of Salvadoran gangs if deported to his native country.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
