Jake Tapper slams Trump officials’ explanation for wrongful detainment of immigrant: ‘Zero convictions’

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: CNN’s Jake Tapper called out top Trump officials for what he described as misleading and incomplete claims regarding the controversial deportation and imprisonment of a migrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, in El Salvador despite a court order to protect him.

Tapper's fact-check comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump aide Stephen Miller, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio each took turns defending Garcia’s deportation and detainment, framing it as a straightforward legal matter, on April 14, Monday.

On March 15, the US government deported Garcia to CECOT, a Salvadoran mega-prison. But he had a protection that was supposed to prevent him from being deported to El Salvador.

Jake Tapper fact-checks Trump officials’ defense of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation

Jake Tapper played a mash-up of some of the remarks made by Donald Trump's officials.

“He was illegally in our country, he had been illegally in our country, and in 2019, two courts, an immigration court and an appellate immigration court ruled that he was a member of MS-13 and he was illegally in our country,” said Pam Bondi.

“No version of this legally ends up with him ever living here because he is a citizen of El Salvador,” added Miller, as per The Mirror. 

“I don’t understand what the confusion is. This individual is a citizen of El Salvador. He was illegally in the United States and was returned to his country,” said Rubio.

Tapper then took a moment on air to fact-check their unified defense and offer more context on the man at the center of the controversy.

“Now just a quick fact check on some of this and some important background on Garcia, who is married to a US citizen. He has one child with her and two stepchildren,” Tapper began.

He acknowledged that Garcia is indeed a citizen of El Salvador and had entered the US illegally in 2011.

But Tapper also pointed out a critical detail — Garcia fled his home country to escape gang violence, the very kind he’s now accused of being involved with.

Jake Tapper questions 'flimsy' evidence behind MS-13 label

Jake Tapper took direct aim at the claims that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a gang member.

“As for the allegation that he’s a member of MS-13, which he fervently denies, well, the evidence of that is much more flimsy,” Tapper said.

According to court documents, Garcia was arrested in 2019 along with three other men.

During questioning, he denied being part of a gang. Yet, he was labeled an MS-13 member by the Prince George’s County Police Department.

Their reasoning was that his attire, a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a statement from a confidential informant.

Jake Tapper slams officials for doubling down on MS-13 claim

Despite the accusations, Jake Tapper reminded viewers that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was granted protective status by an immigration judge.

“Now, later that year, an immigration judge granted Garcia protective status, allowing him to stay in the United States legally, finding that even though Garcia was liable for deportation because he was in the country illegally, he should be protected from deportation, the judge said, to El Salvador because that would constitute a danger to him," said Tapper.

That order should have kept Garcia in the US, yet six years later, despite "zero criminal convictions", he finds himself not just back in El Salvador, but imprisoned in one of its most notorious jails.

While Trump-era officials admit Garcia's deportation was an oversight, Tapper criticized their insistence on doubling down that he is an MS-13 member.

“And while Trump’s officials claim and admit, rather, that it was an oversight that he was deported to begin with, they’re still clinging to this rather shoddily proven claim that he is, without question, an MS-13 member. And they’re doing that to justify the fact that he’s sitting in this prison in El Salvador," Tapper concluded.