‘What happened to accountability?’: JD Vance trolled for misleading claims on deportation of Maryland father to El Salvador prison – The Times of India

US Vice President JD Vance has come under fire for falsely claiming that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father deported to El Salvador, was a convicted MS-13 gang member. Online users, including Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, fact-checked Vance after he cited court documents that reportedly did not support his statement.
The controversy erupted when Jon Favreau, a former director of speechwriting for former US President Barack Obama, called out Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and Elon Musk over the deportation mistake. “You just admitted to accidentally sending an innocent father from Maryland to a torture dungeon in El Salvador. And you refuse to do anything about it,” he wrote.
To which Vance responded and wrote, “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. My further comment is that it’s gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimise.”
However, users who examined the court filing found no mention of a conviction.
One user countered: “At the urging of JD Vance, I read the relevant court document. It does not say this person was a ‘convicted MS-13 gang member.’ So did Vance not actually read the court document he was hectoring others to read, or is he knowingly making stuff up?”
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal weighed in, writing, “Vice President Vance is lying to your face.”
Another user demanded proof, “Can you show us the court document you are referring to and the evidence that led to his ‘conviction’?”
Meanwhile, one user expressed outrage at Vance’s response, “So you falsely accused a father of being MS-13, got him deported, and he was tortured—And your response is: ‘oops, not my problem’?”
Another wrote, “What happened to accountability? Or is that just for poor people and immigrants?
As per CNN, court documents show that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported despite having protected legal status. The Trump administration admitted in a court filing Monday that “ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, but Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error.”
However, it argued that US courts lacked jurisdiction to bring him back.
According to The Atlantic, Abrego Garcia, who fled gang violence in El Salvador as a teenager, was granted “withholding of removal” status in 2019. This meant he could not be deported due to the high risk of persecution. He had no criminal record in the US and his deportation appears to have resulted from the Trump administration’s attempt to expedite removals.
Abrego Garcia’s fate remains uncertain. His wife has not been able to contact him since he was placed in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, a notorious facility known for its harsh conditions. Images released by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele showed detainees being marched into the facility, and Abrego Garcia’s wife identified him in one of the pictures.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, argued in court that the government deported his client “through extrajudicial means because they believed that going through the immigration judge process took too long.”