Legal Analyst Warns White House’s ‘Cute’ Abrego Garcia Post May Hurt Admin

A White House social media post about Kilmar Abrego Garcia may come back to haunt them in a courtroom, legal analyst Joyce Vance warned on Friday.

Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Friday via online form.

Why It Matters

Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 and has since been accused of being a member of the MS-13 El Salvadoran gang, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

He has denied being in the gang, along with his lawyer, but two judges, in separate rulings, concluded that he was an MS-13 member, based on confidential information provided to the court.

Nonetheless, he was shielded from deportation to his native country because he said that he would be a target of MS-13’s gang rivals. Abrego Garcia was ultimately deported to El Salvador after being arrested last month in what Trump administration lawyers called an “administrative error.”

His family denies any ties to gangs and Abrego Garcia has no criminal record in the United States. In 2021, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, accused him of domestic violence and filed paperwork to obtain a restraining order, but says they have since reconciled.

In an exclusive statement to Newsweek earlier this week, Vasquez Sura said, in part: “Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling.

“Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect.”

What To Know

In the post to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, the White House posted a photo of a New York Times article highlighting Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen’s meeting with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador on Thursday.

The Times headline read, “Senator Meets With Wrongly Deported Maryland Man in El Salvador.” The White House then followed up in their post, tweaking the headline to say, “Senator Meets With Deported MS-13 Illegal Alien in El Salvador Who’s Never Coming Back.”

“Fixed it for you, @NYTimes. Oh, and by the way, @ChrisVanHollen—he’s NOT coming back,” the post also read.

Van Hollen, of Maryland, said he made the trip this week to the Central American country to continue “fighting for the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia.”

A federal court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to free itself of responsibility in facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States.

The Supreme Court previously ruled in a unanimous decision that the administration must ease his return to the United States.

Vance, a former federal prosecutor, noted this point in her post to X on Friday. “I suspect this is going to show up in a variety of court pleadings. Whoever thought this was cute at the time may be less giddy when this becomes evidence of intent to disobey a court order,” she said.

Democratic Congressman Don Beyer also noted the White House’s post, calling it “anti-Constitutional.”

“The Trump administration acknowledged it wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Beyer’s post on X read. “The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the administration must bring him home.

“All White House efforts to defy this order are contemptuous, anti-Constitutional, and flat out anti-American,” Beyer concluded.

What People Are Saying

Vice President JD Vance posted to X on Friday: “Call me crazy but if you got two hearings and a valid deportation order then you shouldn’t be in the United States.”

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton posted to X on Friday: “Thank you, Sen. Van Hollen, for standing up not just for Kilmar Abrego Garcia but for every American who believes in due process. We can’t stop speaking out until he’s home and this administration stops its horrific practice of kidnapping people without charge or trial.”

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont posted to X on Friday: “Let me thank my Senate colleague @ChrisVanHollen for his trip to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Mr. Abrego Garcia was wrongfully imprisoned. As the Supreme Court indicated, there was no basis for his warrantless arrest. The Trump admin must obey the law. He must be returned home.”

What Happens Next

It is immediately unknown if or when Abrego Garcia will return to the United States.