El Salvador’s top anti-gang official has joined others who are skeptical over President Donald Trump’s claims that tattoos prove a Maryland father wrongly deported in March is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, according to media reports.
Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro confirmed Wednesday in an interview with the Telegraph that Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been moved to a low-security prison after the Trump White House failed to present any “evidence” linking him to the gang.
“If we want to accuse him, we have to receive the whole proof that he is a member of MS,” Villatoro said in the interview. When asked directly if El Salvador had doubts over Abrego Garcia’s gang ties, he responded: “Yes, we are waiting for the evidence.”
The pushback comes less than 24 hours after Trump doubled down on his claims that Abrego Garcia “had MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles. He scoffed at ABC News’ Terry Moran in an Oval Office interview as the MAGA leader marked his 100th day in office when the journalist pointed out that the photo Trump was referring to has been “contested” as digitally altered.
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But even Villatoro – who has led El Salvador’s gang crackdown that has jailed thousands of innocent people – doesn’t appear to view tattoos alone as “hard evidence” of gang membership, the Daily Beast reported Wednesday.
The latest twist in the legal and political saga involving Abrego Garcia’s deportation, which Trump administration officials have admitted was in error, came as the New York Times reported the Salvadoran government refused the Trump administration's request to release the man, which legal experts remained skeptical of.
But in his interview with the Telegraph, Villatoro “suggested it was possible El Salvador could facilitate the return of Mr Abrego Garcia ‘in the future’ should Donald Trump request it,” according to the publication.