The White House's public response on Friday to an image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who the Trump administration sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador last month, was to mock the migrant and the U.S. senator who successfully urged Salvadoran President Nayim Bukele to allow a visit with him—and critics said officials may come to regret that decision.
"I suspect this is going to show up in a variety of court pleadings," said former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, who is now a law professor. "Whoever thought this was cute at the time may be less giddy when this becomes evidence of intent to disobey a court order."
White Vance was among those who responded to a social media post from the White House's official account on the platform X, in which it displayed the New York Times cover story featuring an image of Abrego Garcia and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) at their meeting on Thursday.
The story headline read, "Senator Meets With Wrongly Deported Maryland Man in El Salvador"—but the White House crossed out the word "wrongly," replaced "Maryland Man" with "MS-13 Illegal Alien," and scrawled, "who's never coming back" on the article about the father and sheet metal worker.
The digital graffiti was shared with the White House's 1.6 million followers even though, as software engineer and writer Lakshya Jain said, "the White House admitted in court that they deported the wrong guy."
Journalist David Leavitt added that the White House had given a federal court "more evidence of contempt," two days after Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. warned that there was "probable cause... to find the government in criminal contempt"—punishable by fines or prison time.
Boasberg ordered the administration last month to turn around two planes that were carrying migrants to El Salvador to be imprisoned at Bukele's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) under a $6 million deal. The White House disobeyed the order.
The administration has also flouted the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous ruling last week that found the White House must facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to the United States. Officials have admitted he was sent to El Salvador due to an "administrative error." Although officials including Vice President JD Vance have called him a "convicted" gang member and Bukele repeatedly called him a "terrorist" in the White House earlier this week, Abrego Garcia has not been convicted of any crimes. He was also protected by a 2019 court order which found he had a credible fear of persecution if he were deported to El Salvador.
Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake said that by saying Abrego Garcia is "never coming back," the White House was "basically taunting" the Supreme Court.
Attorney Aaron Regunberg added that White House officials were "explicitly declaring they will violate a unanimous Supreme Court order," and reminded Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) of his earlier remarks that such defiance from President Donald Trump would trigger "extraordinary action."
"So... where the fuck are you?" asked Regunberg Schumer.
At a press conference following his return to the U.S., flanked by Abrego Garcia's wife, Van Hollen—who was widely praised this week for taking concrete action to advocate for his constituent—on Friday accused the Trump administration of "lying about this case from the beginning."
"They've been trying to change the subject from the beginning," said Van Hollen. "As I've said, and the courts have said—from the Supreme Court to the 4th Circuit, to the District Court—what this is about is adhering to the Constitution, to the right of due process. And that's why we say: 'Bring Kilmar home,' so he can be afforded his rights under the Constitution. That's what this is about."
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