On April 18th, Trump showed a doctored picture of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckle's with "MS-13" tattooed on them. At the time I thought this story was greatly exaggerated, but today, an interview with Trump came out that changed everything.
The Back Story
In March 2025, the Trump administration began deporting alleged gang members—mostly Venezuelans accused of ties to the Tren de Aragua—to El Salvador’s high-security CECOT prison under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Despite a federal judge’s restraining order, the administration proceeded, arguing the order wasn’t enforceable. Many deportees had no U.S. criminal records, and a CBS investigation revealed only a small number had serious charges. The U.S. paid El Salvador $6 million to detain the individuals for a year, sparking backlash from human rights groups over due process violations and prison conditions.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legally residing Salvadoran national in Maryland, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s high-security CECOT prison due to an administrative error by U.S. immigration authorities. Despite a 2019 court order granting him protection from deportation, the Trump administration alleged ties to MS-13, citing unverified claims. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled his deportation illegal and ordered his return, but the administration resisted, arguing judicial overreach.
Known Facts About Kilmar Abrego Garcia
In 2019, he was arrested in Maryland while seeking day labor work; authorities cited his attire and a confidential informant’s claim to suggest MS-13 gang affiliation. In 2022, he was pulled over in Tennessee driving a vehicle owned by a convicted human smuggler, transporting eight passengers without luggage, raising suspicions of human trafficking. Additionally, a 2021 domestic abuse complaint from his wife accused him of physical violence, though she later retracted the claims. Despite these incidents, Abrego Garcia has not been convicted of any crimes, and his family and legal representatives deny all allegations, asserting that he has no ties to criminal organizations.
Does Kilmar Abrego Garcia Have "MS-13" Tattooed On His Knuckles?
On April 19th, Trump posted an image on X of Garcia's knuckles with symbols below, and the text "MS13" Above. The color of the text matches the color of the tattoos below, leading many people to believe that someone Photoshopped the text onto the image to frame Garcia. This caused countless news organisations to write articles with controversial titles accusing Trump of lying about the tattoos and Garcia's gang affiliation. 
As someone who uses Photoshop every day, I was very interested in this story, but after only a few moments of looking into it, the story appeared to be more anti-Trump "fake news." Yes, the text was obviously added to the photo, but it wasn't necessarily nefarious; it was simply showing what the symbols below represent. 
After Trump released this photo, multiple photos of Garcia's tattoos were released and you can clearly see the text isn't there.
Do the symbols on Garcia's knuckles actually represent "MS-13?" I've heard arguments from both sides, and to me it feels plausible, but unlikely.
Trump Actually Believes The Photoshopped Text Is Real
I was going to write a story about this weeks ago, but when I realized the added text was simply showing the meaning of the symbols, I decided there wasn't really a story. You can argue the validity of the interpretation of the tattoos, but there is no debate that the text above the symbols was added... Right?
This morning I saw an ABC interview with Trump that shocked me. Apparently Trump himself believes that the text added to the image was a real tattoo. The section on these tattoos begins at 20:00.
This revelation is such a strange turn of events. On one hand, nobody can blame Trump for doctoring the photo himself, because even he didn't know it was doctored. But how is this possible? Who gave him this photo, and how was its meaning not explained? Hopefully by now, someone has told him that the text was added to the image, and being that this appears to be the best evidence we have of Garcia's gang affiliation, will Trump change his opinion of Garcia's guilt?
" ... will Trump change his opinion of Garcia's guilt?"
Yes. And I will flap my arms and fly to Pluto.
This is akin to the doctored photos of the crowd size for his first-term inauiguration and trying to convince us that the path of Hurricane Dorian was alterd by drawing it on an NWS map with a Sharpie. As the photos in your story show the claimed tatoos are fake. The mendacity here has come in every possible form and has come repeatedly. No, Trump didn't "operate the machine" to get the letters on the knuckles but the letters on the skin are fake and Trump was the one who presented them. And tht's on him.
Apparently some people never heard of captions before.
If it’s plausible that these tattoos (the real ones not the MS paint captions) indicate involvement in this gang, then where are there other clear examples of the same or similar tattoos on other known gang members?
It’s important to note that Garcia was subject to a court order specifically forbidding his deportation to El Salvador, not contingent on any other circumstances. All the rest of the hearsay and excuses are irrelevant noise.
There was even an admission by the authorities that what was essentially a paperwork mistake resulted in his deportation. Then the Supreme Court stepped in and indicated to the US government that it needed to get off the couch and get him back. Don’t argue the semantics to me, if they wanted to they would, the USA found Saddam Hussein in a hole in the desert, they could get a guy back from a prison they specifically sent him to they just need to make a phone call. Lots of judges weighing in on the law, the thing they’re in charge of. But we all know how much value judges have at the moment.
Instead you get a senile old man believing that a photo that has characters overlaid on it in Microsoft Word is a true to life representation. Sorry, america you’re cooked.
You do realize don’t you that the reason for that order was that Garcia admitted to the court that he was, in fact, MS13 and feared the retaliation of another gang (since disbanded) if he were returned to El Salvador, There should be no real dispute as to whether the man is MS13.
Do you have a citation for this claim? It’s news to me that he admitted to being a gang member.
Lawrence, I don't know where you get your news man. This is not true. The court never definitively came to the conclusion he was an MS-13 gang member. All the court said was that the information provided by a now suspended officer claiming he knew of Garcia's involvement in the gang, APPEARED valid.
What you are claiming sounds straight from some internet independent "news" person who may or may not have a YouTube channel. Make sure you double check with other dependable news sources before claiming something is fact.
And please, next time post a source so we can verify where this information is coming from.
"Mr Abrego Garcia's lawyers say he was granted the status based on his "well-founded" fear of persecution by Barrio-18, the main rival gang of MS-13.
He said that before entering the US, his family and their business had been threatened and extorted by Barrio-18." BBC News.
He's also currently in Prison for being a known Terrorist by the El Salvadoran Government and a Member of MS-13.
At least he hasn't killed people, you would know if he did by the teardrop tattoos they usually have.
“On one hand, nobody can blame Trump for doctoring the photo himself…” “Did Trump Photoshop Gang Tattoos Onto A Photo?” Are you saying that Trump knows how to use Photoshop did the editing himself? Or is this a case of sloppy writing?
Interesting story by the way.
This has always been a wonderful non-political haven for photographers and it would be great if it continued to be so. Just saying.
If Fstoppers continue this path of political related stories, I'll be done with you. My interest is photography, not this wasteful crap of a story. .. and I don't care what side of the political aisle you report on or lean, it doesn't belong here!
Cancel your subscription. When they don't receive next month's payment that'll show them.
Illegal alien, probable gang member, documented trafficker that got deported without "due process". Okay, too bad, so sad. Bring him back and boot him out again with due process, or make him a role model as a coach for YOUR Little League team.
Keep the politics out of this site. PLEASE!
Cancel your subscription. When they don't receive next month's payment that'll show them.
Politics is not an exotic place like Alpha Centauri. Politics is not a great fancy camera. And politics is also not a great customer that fills our bank account.
Politics is the matrix in which you live. Politics determines everyone's life, from birth to death. Politics gives you the freedom to travel and take pictures.
So how could you ignore politics?
It's like he believes absolutely everything he sees and reads but we all know that he doesn't read anything longer than a Twitter post. He doesn't read his daily Security briefings or anything that pertains to his duties as President. I'll bet that he thinks that Kevin Spacey was actually President and Robin Wright was that beautiful First Lady.
MS13 was prevalent in the early 2000's, when I worked in state corrections. Symbols were then, the same for indicating a gang affiliation. I had contact with actual affiliates, and that is a MS13 brand. Like in the military, you don't wear a badge that you haven't earned as that will get you hurt.
I've seen a few people on Youtube post something similar and then I saw a comment from a tattoo artist who says he has tattooed this on many people and it simply means "smoke weed, get high, praise jesus, till I die. I honestly have no clue what to believe.
If he wasn't from El Salvador, the explanation of the tat artist is plausible, but a native won't be a poser. Thanks for keeping Fstoppers a go-to site.
Seems the site does not like links to articles and court documents. Will try again will reference how to get the source rather than link to it.
The tattoos were common among the gang members. He was also found to be a gang member in 2 prior court cases (losing his second case on appeal due to his illegal status and gang affiliation) and ordered deported. Then as a last ditch effort, he filed for a withholding, admitting to being an MS13 gang member, but requesting to not be deported because a rival gang may kill him. Before the court cases, he had prior arrests and detainments for gang activity as well as domestic abuse. The ex-husband of his wife filed affidavits requesting law enforcement help because Garcia was in the gang and he didn't want his child to be around gang members.
Supporting information can be found from the ruling from Judge Kessler when Garcia was arrested in 2019, which was based on a combination of evidence including him working with MS-13 gang members leading to the Prince George’s County Police Department's Gang Unit taking action. (can be found by looking up the departments police interview filed on 3/28/2019. Case number HCPD 19-0963
Further investigations lead to a confidential informant confirming that he was a member of the gang. Furthermore, with further arrests and actions from the gang unit, other MS-13 members asserted that Garcia was in the gang but only as a rank of "Chequeo" because he had not murdered anyone yet.
In a subsequent appeal, he was found to be a gang member again, thus upholding the ruling from Judge Kessler.
In both cases, he was ordered to be deported.
In an effort to avoid deportation, he filed a motion for a withholding, where he admitted to being an MS-13 member, and that a rival gang "Barrio 18" would kill him. This lead to a withholding order at the time stating that he could be deported to anywhere other El Salvador.
Over the years since that time, the Barrio 18 was eliminated in the country, thus rendering the withholding moot.
His gang affiliation was further supported by the numerous domestic abuse complaints from his wife where he would routinely physically assault her, as well as issue threats where he claims that he could kill her and get away with it. There were also 911 call audio recordings released.
Overall, there is far more evidence leaning towards the tattoos being representative of MS-13 gang affiliation and not a coincidence that it is a week smoking tattoo that just happens to match those of other MS-13 gang members.
Even if all that is 100% the truth, heck even if he was the leader of the freaking gang, we still have to follow due process. This most recent action – removing him from the country – did not follow due process. That’s not a liberal or conservative ideology. It is the foundation of our constitutional rights and the rights to protect us all from government overreach. It explicitly covers anyone on US soil, not just US citizens. If he really is this terrible person then let it go through the proper systems of our courts.
He did have due process, a fake narrative that had been going around effectively claims that due process requires trials that can be appealed for years until you reach SCOTUS. In reality, due process is a set of processes defined in the law, and different laws have different levels of due process.
For example, if you get a parking ticket, try demanding a jury trial as well as the ability to use the appeals court, state Supreme Court, en banc court session if the appeal trial does not go your way, federal circuit court, and SCOTUS.
If someone is in the country illegally, then the due process extends to verification of their ctatus, and a deportation order, marking the end of the due process. This is why Obama was able to complete over 5 million deportations within a few years.
The only area where there was some contention, was related to withholding orders typically having a final interview (not a trial) with the individual to determine if the order should still apply, but in this case that process is not required because not does the main contention in the order not exist anymore (the rival gang no longer exists in El Salvador), but such orders are invalid when the individual is a member of a terrorist organization.
No, you are wrong.
You are blindly saying I am wrong with no proof. Not every case is afforded the same panoply of court options. As someone in the country illegally and part of a terrorist organization, he got well beyond the required due process. He has 2 court cases with 2 judges upholding his deportation, as well as numerous other negative interactions with the law while violating a deportation order.
You seem to have fallen for the false narrative that everyone here illegally gets access to the full jury trial system at every level, and up to the a full SCOTUS trial.
The court system is specifically structured so that is not the case, otherwise you will see court cases scheduled 100+ years out, and appeals potentially extending out to thousands of years given the backlogs in appeals courts.
During Obama's first term, he had 3,160,140 people deported without a court case, and in his second term 2,871,899 were deported without a court case.
There was no due process violation as the administration had ICE's verification that they were in the country illegally, and ordered deported, thus marking the completion of their due process, as outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act, and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
Furthermore, in the case of members of terrorist organizations, their options are even more limited, as detailed in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.
There are further processes for speeding the deportation process via the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which included additional enhancements to improve the ability of border patrol to deal with the increase of cartels and terror organizations involving themselves in the human trafficking crisis.
I cannot believe how stupid this article is. The guy is an illegal immigrant - he broke the law. Courts declared he is a gang member. His wife charged him of wife abuse multiple times. He is deportable as illegal immigrant alone. Why are you writing this low IQ article other than you suffer Trump Derangement Syndrome. As for me, I would like to feel safe when I go out to do photography. This is another fake news article as well. I cannot believe that F- stoppers published this article.