Did Trump share a fake photo of deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia's MS-13 tattoo? Here's the shocking truth

US President Donald Trump posted a statement on Friday what appeared to be a digitally altered image of a hand of a Maryland father who was deported to notorious El Salvador prison on his alleged links to MS-13 gang. Despite the US top court demanding the Trump administration to "facilitate" his return to the country, but the Trump team has maintained without any concrete proof that he is a gang member. Trump officials have initially admitted his deportation was an "administrative error".

Trump has been accused of sharing a fake image of the knuckles of Kilmar Abrego Garcia which purportedly shows MS-13 written on it. Social media users noted that the letters 'M' and 'S' along with the numbers '1' and '3' appear superimposed on the photo—markings that do not show up in any other images of Garcia.

ALSO READ: Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Maryland resident 'wrongly' deported to El Salvador by Trump admin?

What's the truth about tattoo?

Netizens are accusing Trump of photoshopping an image he posted of a tattoo on deported dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s hand that the president argued represented the MS-13 gang. “This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such ‘a fine and innocent person,’” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Friday. “They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles.”

According to a TOI report, words M, S and 13 are not part of the tattoo and they were used in the photo that Trump shared online to denote the meaning of the tattoo. On the knuckles of Garcia's four fingers on his left hand, there are tattoos of four symbols which stand for M, S, 1 and 3.

Now, online sleuths are pointing out that both the labels and the characters were digitally added to the photo Trump posted—they aren’t actually part of the tattoo. They argue that by leaving that info out, Trump was trying to mislead the public.

ALSO READ: 'Must be allowed...': Trump's tattoo photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to share MS-13 gang link sparks debate

“Trump has posted a fake picture of Abrego Garcia’s hand where they have photoshopped letters spelling MS-13 on his upper knuckles,” wrote user @RachelBitecofer. “Here is the original. It’s spreading all over MAGA media.”

User @LindaIHiggins made a similar point, writing: “Hey Old Man, @realDonaldTrump, have someone teach you about Photoshop. This is an excellent example of altering a photo, in this case to make your illegal actions look good. But instead you look foolish.”

Another photo has gone viral in this context, in which those tattoos are hidden by love emojis posted by his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura.

Some users defended Trump, arguing that it should have been obvious that the letters, which were slightly misaligned from the characters, were added to illustrate the president’s claim about what the tattoo represented.

Others, however, have questioned whether the tattoo actually represents MS-13. The president’s rationale for inferring this seemed to be that the first letters of marijuana and smiley correspond to “MS,” while the cross represents a “1″ and the skull’s three holes—two for the eyes, one for the mouth—constitute the “3.″

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What is the case?

Garcia, a Maryland resident who entered the U.S. illegally, had been protected from deportation by a 2019 court order. However, during the Trump administration, he was deported alongside members of the notorious gangs Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to Venezuela’s infamous prison system. In a later court case, the administration claimed Garcia had actually been mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The court subsequently ruled that Garcia should be returned to the United States.

Despite the ruling, the White House has now stated that Garcia will not be allowed to return. As part of its defense, the Trump administration argued that the matter now rests with El Salvador, which must decide whether to release Garcia — a request President Nayib Bukele has refused. Additionally, the administration presented multiple pieces of evidence to support their claim that Garcia is a member of MS-13 and involved in criminal activity.