'Vance is lying': VP blasted for 'arguing with people on social media' to defend 'administrative error'

01 April

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio in Mesa, Arizona on September 4, 2024 (Gage Skidmore)

Vice President JD Vance is being criticized for falsely claiming the Maryland man accidentally deported to El Savador by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was a “convicted MS-3 gang member.”

In an X post Tuesday, Vance said the court filing declared him a convicted member of the MS-3 gang. However, the court filing of the case does not say he was a convict.

The man was denied bond by an immigration court in 2019 over an informant’s allegation he was in MS-13, but he was not convicted.

“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,” Vance wrote in response to a post from Democratic strategist and former Obama advisor Jon Favreau.

“My further comment is that it’s gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize,” he added.

Vance’s critics, including political commentators and journalists, were quick to point out the court filing disputes his claim.

On Monday, a court filing revealed that the United States government mistakenly deported Kilmar Arbrego Garcia to El Salvador because of an "administrative error," resulting in his placement in an infamous mega-jail.

Garcia moved to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2011 and is a legal resident shielded by a 2019 court ruling that protected him from deportation.

However, in the legal documents, the government acknowledged that on March 15, Garcia was sent to El Salvador “because of an administrative error” — despite ICE being aware of the court order that protected him from removal to his home country.

Reacting to the vice president’s claim, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a fellow with the American Immigration Council, said, “Vance is badly wrong here.”

“In 2019, a police informant alleged the guy was in MS-13. He spent a year in ICE detention as a result, then won his case. He’s been out for the last five years, married to a U.S. citizen, has two kids, and STILL has no criminal record at all,” Melnick wrote on X.

Journalist John Harwood said the vice president was “lying.”

”As usual, JD "I create stories" Vance is lying," he wrote on X.

“The guy was not convicted of being a member of MS-13, or eating anybody's pet, or sending attack plans to unknown people on an unsecure phone app, or anything else," Harwood added.

Kyle Cheney, a legal affairs reporter for Politico, also challenged Vance and noted the court filing says the man was denied bond in 2019 over an informant’s claim he was in MS-13. "That’s not a conviction."

In response to Cheney's post, Vance doubled down on his claim, but made a glaring error in his post.

"Kyle Cheney, a 'legal affairs reporter' is apparently unable or unwilling to look at the facts here," Vance wrote.

"In 2019, an Immigration Judge (under the Biden administration) determined that the deported man was, in fact, a member of the MS-13 gang. He also apparently had multiple traffic violations for which he failed to appear in court. A real winner," he said, adding that the man did not have a legal right to stay in the U.S. and "whatever 'due process' he was entitled to, he received."

When social media users pointed out that Trump was the president in 2019, Vance edited his post to correct the error.

Jeremy Scahill, a journalist at Drop Site News, wrote, "On the one hand, it is kind of amazing to see a vice president of the US spending time personally arguing with people on social media. On the other hand, the vice president does not seem to understand the definition of a criminal conviction."

Garcia's deportation came against the backdrop of the Trump's administration's ongoing efforts to deport hundreds of individuals to El Salvador, with many originating from Venezuela and nearly all heading to the high-security facility referred to by its Spanish acronym, CECOT, meaning "Terrorist Confinement Center."

This is not the first time JD Vance has shared misleading claims. Last year, he faced significant backlash when he admitted he lied about Haitian migrants in his hometown of Springfield, Ohio, eating pets that belonged to Americans.

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