Donald Trump’s administration decided to add insult to injury on Friday via a social media post that taunted The New York Times, the rule of law and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant it wrongfully deported to an El Salvador prison.
Garcia, a 29-year-old father living in Maryland, was deported to a brutal maximum security prison in El Salvador last month despite the Trump administration attributing his removal from the U.S. to an “administrative error.”
Although the Supreme Court has said the White House must facilitate Garcia’s release, the administration has refused to take any action, instead alleging without proof that Garcia is connected to the MS-13 gang and claiming it lacks the power to pressure El Salvador’s government to free him.
The White House doubled down on its lack of interest in following the court’s orders on Friday, sharing the image of a marked-up New York Times front page that crosses out the paper’s reference to Abrego Garcia as a “wrongly deported Maryland man” and brands him with the far more dehumanizing “MS-13 illegal alien” label.
In a jab at Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, the White House added, “Oh, and by the way, @ChrisVanHollen — he’s NOT coming back.”
The White House followed up that post with a link to a Fox News story quoting Attorney General Pam Bondi telling reporters that Garcia won’t be returning to the U.S.
Not surprisingly, many people on social media were shocked that the White House posted such an incendiary post, especially one that basically says “screw you” to a Supreme Court opinion.