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Deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia
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Overview
The Deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia refers to the controversial deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was taken into custody by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and sent to El Salvador, where he was put into the maximum security prison CECOT despite having "withholding of removal" status to the Latin American country. Abrego Garcia's deportation occurred during President Donald Trump's second administration in March 2025. Following this, the Supreme Court reached a unanimous 9-0 ruling that Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. must be facilitated by the U.S. government. However, President Trump's administration failed to take immediate action and placed the responsibility on El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele. The deportation sparked outrage and backlash in the U.S., which spread on social media sites like Twitter / X, TikTok and Reddit. Calls for Abrego Garcia's freedom went viral online, notably after the unanimous Supreme Court ruling. Meanwhile, President Trump and his supporters attempted to label Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 gang member, focusing on a photo of Garcia wearing a black Chicago Bulls hat, which they dubbed a symbol of the gang. The claim drew criticism online for being perceived by many as unfounded and speculative. Discourse about Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia's deportation was notably compared to the Detainment of Mahmoud Khalil, which happened a month prior.
Background
On March 12th, 2025, 29-year-old Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was approached by ICE officers while picking up his son. He was moved to an ICE facility in Texas two days later. Then, on March 15th, he was deported to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). Abrego Garcia was legally in the U.S. as he was granted a protected status called "withholding of removal" by a U.S. immigration judge, who found he would likely be targeted by gangs if deported back.[2]
ICE detained and deported Abrego Garcia because he was labeled an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador. The allegation stems from a 2019 incident when he and three other men were detained in a Home Depot parking lot by Maryland detectives. One of the other men claimed that Abrego Garcia was a gang member, but the man offered no proof, and police said they didn’t believe him, according to filings and The Atlantic.[2]
On March 24th, 2025, a complaint was filed in a Maryland Federal District Court by Jennifer Stefania Vasquez Sura, the wife of Abrego Garcia. Maryland Federal District Judge Paula Xinis was set to rule over the case.[2][1]
On March 31st, the Atlantic[2] broke the story in an article titled, "An 'Administrative Error' Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison." At that time, Trump administration officials admitted that Abrego Garcia's deportation was an "administrative error," but that the court could not bring Abrego Garcia back from Salvadoran custody.
On April 4th, 2025, Judge Paula Xinis ruled in favor of Abrego Garcia. She said to a Justice Department lawyer, "This was an illegal act," and on his purported gang affiliation, Judge Xinis said, "That’s just chatter, in my view. I haven’t been given any evidence."[3][1]
Online Reactions
On March 31st, 2025, internet discourse about the Deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia surfaced en masse, notably following the Atlantic's article.[2]
For instance, on March 31st, X[4] user @jonfavs tagged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and billionaire businessman Elon Musk, writing, "You just admitted to accidentally sending an innocent father from Maryland to a torture dungeon in El Salvador. And you refuse to do anything about it." The tweet received over 12.2 million views and 43,000 likes in 16 days (shown below).
On April 1st, 2025, VP J.D. Vance quote tweeted [5] the abovementioned tweet, writing, "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." The post received over 22.1 million views and 145,000 likes in 15 days (shown below).
VP Vance's claim was challenged by many X users in the following days. For example, on April 1st, X[6] user @jonfavs responded with an excerpt from the court document, showing the section where it said, "Plaintiff 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 post gained over 33,000 likes in 15 days (shown below).
Also on April 1st, X[7] user @mehdirhasan quote-tweeted VP Vance, attaching a headline about Vance admitting to "creating stories" about the Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets and Geese Hoax, gaining over 16,000 likes in 15 days (shown below).
Developments
Supreme Court Unanimous Ruling
On April 10th, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously to uphold Judge Xinis' ruling.[8][9]
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's Statement
On April 14th, 2025, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele visited President Trump at the White House and said that he wouldn't return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.[19]
Online Reactions To Ruling
On April 10th, 2025, multiple reactions to the Supreme Court's ruling appeared on social media. For instance, X[10] user @JoePostingg tweeted, "The Supreme Court unanimously deciding you can't gulag people for literally no reason is genuinely shocking," gaining over 125,000 likes in six days (shown below).
On April 14th, X[11] user @ZacksJerryRig tweeted about President Donald Trump ignoring the Supreme Court's ruling, writing, "So the guy with 34 felonies is defying a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling?" attaching a GIF of a guy eating popcorn. Over two days, the tweet received over 11,000 likes (shown below).
On April 14th, 2025, Redditor Puginator posted about El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's statement to the /r/worldnews[20] subreddit, gaining over 24,000 upvotes in two days.
On April 15th, a video of Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley being criticized by his constituents at a town hall went viral on X[12] (shown below).
Prehistoric Chuck Grassley getting an earful from his constituents when he tried to make excuses for Trump’s refusal to obtain Abrego Garcia’s return. One asked “if I get a court order to pay $1,200 can I ignore it like Trump ignored the Supreme Court?” Absolute gold. pic.twitter.com/TN6yJmiYKR
— John Jackson (@hissgoescobra) April 15, 2025
Also on April 15th, 2025, TikToker[16] @paripeach posted a video, stating that Abrego Garcia was not a criminal in the U.S. or El Salvador, and that the Supreme Court voted unanimously to facilitate his return, further asking, "So where is he?" The video received over 52,200 likes in a day (shown below).
Similar viral videos surfaced on TikTok[17][18] in the following days.
@paripeach When will enough be enough? Clearly checks and balances arn’t being applied anymore
Chicago Bulls Hat Theory
On April 15th, 2025, Fox News host Jesse Watters ran a segment on a photo of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia wearing a black Chicago Bulls hat, claiming that it was an MS-13 gang symbol. The clip went viral on X,[13] gaining over 2.9 million views in a day (shown below).
Watters: Garcia is a bulls fan? But he's from El Salvador. And he lives in Maryland, not Chicago. The bulls lost 60 games in 2019 so why the hat? Can Garcia name anyone on the team, anyone on any bulls team? Everyone from El Salvador knows what it means when you wear a bulls… pic.twitter.com/ViFweDueh8
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 16, 2025
On April 15th, X[14] user @GuntherEagleman posted a tweet of Abrego Garcia wearing the hat, captioning it, "Do you support the decision to deport this gang member to El Salvador?" gaining over 42,000 likes in a day (shown below).
Later on April 15th, 2025, X[15] user @esjesjesj quote-tweeted the abovementioned post, writing, "They keep calling him a gang member because they want it to be true," gaining over 75,000 likes in a day (shown below).
Search Interest
External References
[1] Court Listener – Abrego Garcia v. Noem
[2] The Atlantic – An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison
[3] Politico – Maryland man illegally deported to El Salvador must be returned to US, judge rules
[7] X – @mehdirhasan
[8] CNBC – Supreme Court rules U.S. must facilitate return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador
[9] New York Times – Supreme Court Sides With Wrongly Deported Migrant
[10] X – @JoePostingg
[11] X – @ZacksJerryRig
[12] X – @hissgoescobra
[14] X – @GuntherEagleman
[15] X – @esjesjesj
[16] TikTok – @paripeach
[17] TikTok – @ifyouseethisdonttellme
[18] TikTok – @aaronparnas1
[19] CNBC – Trump administration says it lacks authority to get Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador
[20] Reddit – /r/worldnews
Top Comments
Panuru
Apr 16, 2025 at 01:07PM EDT
Vourler
Apr 16, 2025 at 01:24PM EDT