White House: Media coverage of Abrego Garcia 'despicable'
The White House is blasting media coverage of a case involving a Maryland resident who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador as part of President Trump's sweeping immigration reform initiatives.
"President Trump and our administration will not rest until every single violent illegal alien is removed from our country," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday. "The Democrat and media outrage over Abrego Garcia, an MS-13 illegal criminal alien who was hiding in Maryland, has been nothing short of despicable. "
"Based on the sensationalism of many of the people in this room you would think we deported a candidate for father of the year," she added.
Abrego Garcia's case has sparked dozens of headlines in recent days. His family has denied allegations of ties to MS-13 or criminal activity. The Trump administration also briefly acknowledged that he had been wrongfully deported but has seemingly walked it back.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in a ruling issued last week said "the ‘evidence’ against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13’s ‘Western’ clique in New York — a place he has never lived."
Earlier in the day, the White House sent out a memo to reporters slamming media coverage of Garcia's case.
"Brutal killers and rapists — all taken off our streets in just the past week thanks to the tireless work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement," the memo reads. "If Democrats and the legacy media had their way, these sick criminals would still be roaming free."
Trump, who invited El Salvador President Nayib Bukele to the White House on Monday, claimed he didn't have the authority to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, despite a Supreme Court order to do just that.
President Trump and administration have not been shy about criticizing media coverage it disagrees with.
Trump during his meeting with Bukele called out CNN specifically, saying they do not promote his immigration numbers because "they hate our country."