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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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Vice President JD Vance has reacted defiantly to news that a government department deported a man in "error," commenting that it was "gross to get fired up" about the case.
Why It Matters
Since assuming office for a second time, President Donald Trump has made the deportation of migrants with criminal records a central pillar of his policy offering.
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In March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that just over 28,000 deportations were carried out in the first seven weeks of the Trump administration.
Newsweek contacted ICE by email outside of normal business hours for comment.
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What To Know
On Monday, an ICE official admitted in a sworn declaration to an "administrative error" that resulted in the deportation of a Maryland man to a prison in El Salvador.
Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia, who has a United States citizen wife and a 5-year-old child, was stopped by ICE officers and sent to the prison CECOT in El Salvador, according to legal filings.
Abrego-Garcia, who came to the U.S. at age 16 in 2011 after fleeing gang threats in El Salvador, according to filings, had been detained by ICE in March over his alleged affiliation with the gang MS-13.
This suspected affiliation came from a 2019 incident, according to his attorneys, when an informant made the claim he was linked to gangs. Abrego-Garcia had already filed for asylum, and a judge had withheld his removal to the country, which was a protected status. The judge ruled he could be targeted by gangs if deported.
His lawyers said Abrego-Garcia was not affiliated with gangs and that the government had not produced evidence to prove otherwise.
After Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's former director of speechwriting turned podcast host, called on Vance and other Trump administration figures to comment on X, formerly Twitter, the vice president said that it was "gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported."
"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.
"My further comment is that it's gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize."
After a reporter criticized him for referring to Abrego-Garcia as a convicted gang member, Vance later added:
"In 2019, an Immigration Judge (under the first Trump 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.
"It is telling that the entire American media is going to run a propaganda operation today making you think an innocent 'father of 3' was apprehended by a gulag. Here are the relevant facts."
He previously said this took place under the Biden administration, then corrected the post.
What People Are Saying
Robert L. Cerna, acting field office director for ICE wrote in a sworn declaration: "Abrego-Garcia, a native and citizen of El Salvador, was on the third flight and thus had his removal order to El Salvador executed. This removal was an error."
He added: "This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego-Garcia's purported membership in MS-13."
What Happens Next
In a legal filing, the government acknowledged the mistake but said that because Abrego-Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the court cannot order him returned.
Update 4/1/25, 10:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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