Democratic House Rep. Eric Swalwell has ripped into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about her department’s conduct surrounding Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland dad whom ICE deported to El Salvador, defying an earlier court order.
During a three-and-a-half-hour hearing with the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, Swalwell said he was particularly concerned about an image President Donald Trump presented to the press last month, which depicted Abrego-Garcia with what appeared to be a poorly photoshopped hand tattoo reading “MS-13” across his knuckles.
The president confidently doubled down during a sit-down with ABC News, asserting again that the image was not doctored, and the tattoos were real.
Pressing Noem on the debacle, Swalwell held up an enlarged copy of the photo and asked the DHS secretary no less than seven times to acknowledge it had been doctored.
Noem, who has stood firm in her claim that deporting Abrego Garcia was justified, not only refused to answer, but refused to even look at the photo.
The interaction only devolved from there, with Noem growing increasingly frustrated when Swalwell repeated his question, warning her, “I want you to have clarity and be taken seriously.”
Instead of answering the question, Noem repeatedly attempted to justify Abrego Garcia’s deportation, insisting his deportation “wasn’t based off of tattoos,” and reiterating claims the Maryland resident is an active member of MS-13, a “wife beater,” and a “human trafficker.”
Swalwell didn’t let her off the hook that easily, instead presenting the question several more times before snapping at the DHS Secretary, exclaiming, “I have a seven-year-old, a six-year-old, and a three-year-old. I have a bulls–t detector. I’m just asking you, is this doctored or not?”
The congressman then had an aide bring a copy of the photo to Noem’s desk, but the secretary turned her head away. She then attempted again to change the subject, asking Swalwell, “Are you saying [Abrego Garcia] is not a wife-beater?”
Still, Noem’s most egregious response came when she finally answered Swalwell’s question. After calling the congressman “unbelievable” for caring about the photo, Noem claimed she “did not have any knowledge” of whether it was edited or not.
Noem’s attempts to obfuscate the Photoshop question reflect the Trump administration’s larger attempts to justify deporting Abrego-Garcia, despite initially admitting that doing so had been an “administrative error.”
A 2019 court order declared Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador because returning would put him in danger from local gang Barrio 18, but the Trump administration has repeatedly asserted that Abrego Garcia is himself a gang member and a danger to the United States.
While the Supreme Court has already ruled that the administration must work to return Abrego-Garcia to the U.S., Trump and Noem have been clear that they have no plans to do so. Instead, White House officials, including the president, have repeatedly referenced Abrego Garcia’s supposed connections to MS-13, citing an inconclusive police report from 2019.
Once Noem finally answered the Photoshop question, Swalwell continued his grilling, asking her, “What have you done to investigate whether the president misrepresented the reason that this person has been detained?” Noem replied that her job at DHS was to “ensure our nation’s security.”
“I’m a former prosecutor,” Swalwell told Noem. “I have put people away for life sentences who are gang members. I don’t need to wear costumes to show how tough I am. What makes me different from you is when I put those people away, I did it with the weight of the law behind me.”
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