Trump asserts that Abrego Garcia sports MS-13 tattoos on his knuckles, yet evidence and expert opinions negate this claim regarding Mr. Abrego Garcia.

Lo-Down on the Latest:

President Trump repeatedly locked horns with ABC News' Terry Moran about a certain individual, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. This individual was allegedly deported by the US government to El Salvador in March, disregarding a court order, and was said to have "MS13" gang tattoos on his knuckles.

In an interview on April 29, Trump shared an image on his Truth Social platform, which claimed to be Abrego Garcia's tattoo. The image shows a hand with tattoos on each finger – a marijuana leaf, a smiley face with X for eyes, a cross, and a skull. Above these tattoos, there were "M", "S", "1", and "3" in a printed font. The words describing the pictorial tattoos also appeared below each one in a small, printed typeface.

Trump asserted that Abrego Garcia's hand reads "MS13," but Moran questioned this claim, stating it was disputed and that some suggested these tattoos were "interpreted that way." Trump retorted, "Don't do that. M, S, one, three, it says M, S, one, three."

Moran countered by stating, "That was photoshopped." He attempted to shift the conversation, but Trump kept pressing, "Terry, do you want me to show you the picture?" Trump continued, "He had M, S as clear as you can be. Not interpreted."

When Moran tried to steer the conversation towards Ukraine, Trump mentioned, "Terry, he has 'MS13' on his knuckles."

The interview digressed from the impression Trump left by sharing an image on Truth Social of what he claimed were Abrego Garcia's finger tattoos. Trump insisted that the "MS13" tattoo was part of the evidence used to deport him.

The White House declined to comment when asked for it. A spokesperson remarked that any law enforcement or immigration official with on-the-ground experience could link Abrego Garcia's tattoos to the MS-13 gang.

The tattoos don't appear in various recent photographs of Abrego Garcia's hand, including one shared by Salvadoran government officials and a family photo of Abrego Garcia shared by immigration advocates.

Expert analysis on the MS-13 tattoos revealed that none of the pictorial tattoos in the photograph are known signifiers of MS-13.

The Abrego Garcia Case and Gang Allegations

The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia on March 15 to CECOT, a Salvadoran mega-prison where it sent hundreds of Salvadoran and Venezuelan men who were previously in the US. However, Abrego Garcia had a protection order that was supposed to prevent him from being deported to El Salvador. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyers acknowledged that they were aware of the restriction and, in court filings, called his removal an "oversight" and "an administrative error."

The Trump administration claimed that Abrego Garcia and other deported individuals were members of the MS-13 gang. This claim was denied by Abrego Garcia and his lawyers in court filings. All the men were deported without due process, as the government did not present evidence of their gang membership before a judge in the deportation case, and the migrants were not given the opportunity to defend themselves. The New York Times reported that most of the 238 men deported to El Salvador had neither criminal records in the US nor documented links to a Venezuelan prison gang.

When Abrego Garcia was arrested in March 2019, a police informant claimed he was an MS-13 member, according to a "gang field interview sheet." A judge initially ruled in 2019 that the government's evidence about Abrego Garcia's gang membership was "trustworthy" and was upheld on appeal; later, two federal judges ruled that the government's information was unsupported. It was based on clothing Abrego Garcia wore at the time of his 2019 arrest and information from a since-fired police officer's confidential source.

Abrego Garcia's lawyers claim the MS-13 gang membership accusation was fabricated. They have sought to reverse his deportation, but the government has argued that since he left US jurisdiction, it cannot take action. The US Supreme Court ruled that the government must "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's release. Abrego Garcia has since been moved to a lower-security prison, according to news reports.

What do the Tattoos in the Photograph Mean?

As for the tattoos on Abrego Garcia's hand, marijuana leaves, crosses, and skulls are widely used by people who are not gang members. Gang crime experts said they did not find these symbols as MS-13 markers.

In her book "Transcending Gangs," Liliana Castaneda Rossmann, a California State University San Marcos emerita professor of communication, stated, "I don't believe a dangerous individual would have such anodyne and farcically generic tattoos on his hand."

Sean Kennedy, a former federal public defender in California and now a Loyola Law School professor, commented that in his experience representing and interacting with current and former MS-13 members, "The tattoos in the photo don't look familiar to me."

Such designs are out of character with typical MS-13 tattoos. According to Kennedy, "Within MS-13 culture, such markings would likely be frowned upon and even viewed as a sign of cowardice, as they could be interpreted as an attempt to hide or downplay gang affiliation. That type of concealment goes against the gang's norms, which often demand bold, visible demonstrations of identity and loyalty."

Charles Katz, director of Arizona State University's Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety, concurred. While Katz noted that local law enforcement would be more familiar with specific tattoo designs in a given region, he stated, "I have worked on issues related to MS-13 for the past 15 years in El Salvador and the US, and I have never seen tattoos or graffiti suggesting that these particular tattoos are associated with MS-13."

Experts concluded that tattoos can be helpful in identifying gang members, as long as they are one of multiple pieces of evidence. However, tattoos alone may not be sufficient to definitively prove gang affiliation.

"While police gang experts often use so-called gang tattoos as circumstantial evidence of alleged gang involvement, in my experience, they never use tattoos alone as definitive evidence of gang affiliation," said David M Kennedy, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor who studies gangs. "This is particularly true where, as here, the tattoos are ambiguous and may reflect things other than gang ties, such as religion, loss, personal transformation, or cultural identity."

Our Ruling

Trump claimed that "Abrego Garcia 'had 'MS-13' on his knuckles tattooed ... He had MS as clear as you can be, not interpreted.'

However, interviews, photographs, and expert analysis contradict Trump's claim. Experts in MS-13 and other gangs say the pictorial tattoos shown are not typical designs for MS-13 or other gangs, and they say that several of those tattoos are commonly used by people unaffiliated with gangs. We rate Trump's statement Misleading.

The Abrego Garcia case, involving immigration, politics, and crime-and-justice, raised questions about the alleged MS13 gang tattoos on his knuckles.
In an interview, President Trump asserted that these tattoos were clearly visible and signified MS13, but ABC News' Terry Moran disputed this claim, stating that some attributed the tattoos' meaning to general-news interpretations.
The White House declined to comment when asked about the issue, while experts in gang culture disagree with Trump's statement, asserting that the pictorial tattoos in question are not typical MS13 markers.
Experts argue that the tattoos may reflect personal transformation, religion, or cultural identity, rather than gang affiliation.
Moreover, similar tattoos have been found on people who are not gang members.
In light of the aforementioned evidence, the assertion that Abrego Garcia's hands displayed "MS13" tattoos, as claimed by Trump, is likely misleading.