Trump posted a photo of Abrego Garcia’s hand with an MS-13 knuckle tattoo. Internet sleuths say it’s photoshopped
Summary
Trump reportedly held up a digitally altered image of the hand of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was deported by the Trump administration, in an attempt to prove Garcia is a gang member.
Trump can be seen holding a printed-out photo... demonstrating that "MS-13" is tattooed across his knuckles.
"This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back," Trump posted. However, many have pointed out that the image appears photoshopped.
"MS-13 looks like it was typed on the photo." "Needing to have a photo doctored... is definitely something a psychopath would do."
Trump Posted a Photo of Abrego Garcia's Hand With an MS-13 Knuckle Tattoo. Internet Sleuths Say It's Photoshopped
President Donald Trump reportedly held up an altered image of the hand of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration, in an attempt to prove that...Maryam Khanum (Latin Times)
like this
politics reshared this.
0p3r470r
in reply to MicroWave • • •KaRunChiy likes this.
jagged_circle
in reply to 0p3r470r • • •Carmakazi
in reply to MicroWave • • •It kind of looks like annotation to imply that the symbols actually on his hand mean MS-13, but I'd easily believe Trump is dumb enough to think he has "M S 1 3" printed in Arial font on his fingers.
If it is an annotation...show us those court records, you fascist son of a bitch.
KaRunChiy likes this.
Sanctus
in reply to Carmakazi • • •It looks like people believe the M S 1 3 annotations are what they are saying is on his hand. We're in some dire straits.
The annotations are bullshit tho
JohnnyCanuck
in reply to Sanctus • • •How so? Marijuana, Smile are pretty clear, the cross you can see in place of 1 on other MS13 tattoos (using image search of MS13 tattoos).
The only one I'm not sure of is the skull, but the available image is a bit blurry. Maybe the 2 eye holes plus the nose hole?
queermunist she/her
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •1 isn't really a cross, but I guess if you really stretch it?
But the skull also has a mouth. That's 4.
nomy
in reply to queermunist she/her • • •Auli
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •na11.campaigns.federalbank.co.…
JohnnyCanuck
in reply to Auli • • •I don't think all of the gang members being deported from the US are wearing the tattoos so boldly. They probably had to be a bit more subtle than that in the US than in Venezuela or El Salvador (before last year).
Look at these 5 guys from 2023 foxnews.com/us/five-suspected-…
Or these three from 2018: foxnews.com/us/3-ms-13-gang-me…
Or all of these ones from 2021: breitbart.com/politics/2021/08…
It's going to be hard to find subtle versions of the tattoos with image search since they all give the same results of blatant face tattoos.
Illegal Alien MS-13 Gang Members Indicted for Murders, Kidnappings
John Binder (Breitbart)Sanctus
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •Death_Equity
in reply to Sanctus • • •Yeah, they think that the evidence is the annotations and ignore them as being annotations as a bad faith argument.
Do the symbols on his knuckles means "MS13"? That is up for debate without supporting evidence from those who have relevant knowledge and authority on the subject, which DHS has not validated as of yet but the arresting officers in a 2019 incident when he was arrested with two others that were also "MS13 affiliated" by the local PD; if that was out of authority or guilt by proximity is up for debate.
Is it plausible that a gang member has coded tattoos? Absolutely because gangs do use symbols to code like white power people use 1488 and similar. To be fair members of MS13 and similar tend to be more blatant with their tattoos, but it may offer a tactical advantage to be more obtuse in tattoos depending on the individual's role in the organization. So him not having "MS13" tattooed on his face is not necessary absolute proof that he is unaffiliated.
He was alleged to be affiliated
to MS13 by an informant, who is advantaged by lying financially and legally. $100 bucks can make a guy busted for drug trafficking say anything to avoid the consequences of his actions.
His wife censors his tattoos in her calls for his return, which implies she knows the tattoos are a optics problem and she has also avoided admitting or denying any past gang affiliation. Not damning, but draw enough points and you can draw a line.
Could he have been a victim of circumstances and has a checkered past due to where he grew up and has been trying to reform himself and be a decent, honest, and lawful person? Absolutely, but his traffick stop in 2022 sure is questionable.
At the end of the day he was here illegally and two judges have decided he was at one time an MS13 member based on the information available to them, which is greater than we are privileged to.
You can disagree with deporting him because a prior administration decided he should not be immediately be deported, but administrations change and so can the decisions of a prior administration with a new administration.
How he is treated in his home country is a concern, but that is a concern of his family and the people of El Salvador who advocate on behalf of the imprisoned, not the American government because he is not a naturalized citizen.
ultranaut
in reply to Death_Equity • • •Rhaedas
in reply to Death_Equity • • •NOEM v. ABREGO GARCIA is pretty clear.
JcbAzPx
in reply to Death_Equity • • •Actually, at the time he was kidnapped he was a legal resident and the administration had court orders specifically not to send him to El Salvador. Anything anyone tries to say about his tattoos, one way or another, is completely irrelevant nonsense and attempting to defend the administration's actions against him is a moral evil.
JohnnyCanuck
in reply to Carmakazi • • •It's so obvious that the letters and numbers are there to show what the tattooed symbols represent. I feel like I'm in bizarro world that people don't understand that and think they've found some smoking gun.
It doesn't change the need for due process, but come on people.
ReallyActuallyFrankenstein
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •floofloof
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •Trump's own words indicated that he thought the MS13 tattoos were on the knuckles, which is where the Arial font characters are. So either Trump doesn't know what a knuckle is, or he was speaking imprecisely, or he's a fucking moron, or all of the above.
In any case, as someone pointed out above, it's unlikely MS13 would be working with acronyms in English for their tattoos, especially acronyms in English that only 50% work because Marijuana Smiley Cross Skull says MSCS, not MS13.
Tikiporch
in reply to floofloof • • •You don't think Marijuana is an English word, do you?
Smile is sonrisa in Spanish, also...
The skull is still a puzzler though.
Nikelui
in reply to Tikiporch • • •JohnnyCanuck
in reply to floofloof • • •Regrettable_incident
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •queermunist she/her
in reply to Regrettable_incident • • •It starts off plausible:
M=Marijuana
S=Smiley
But then it gets stupid:
1=Cross?
3=Skull???
kronisk
in reply to queermunist she/her • • •The explanation I read is that skull is cranéo in spanish - "cranium" - which would give us C = 3rd letter of the alphabet. The jury is still out on the cross, but perhaps "god is number one" or something. Never mind that actual MS-13 members have no qualms about tattooing the actual letters all over their bodies instead of elaborate ciphers...
None of this matters though, focus should be kept on the right to due process. They can smear him all they want, it doesn't change the facts.
queermunist she/her
in reply to kronisk • • •tigeruppercut
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •Auli
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •JcbAzPx
in reply to JohnnyCanuck • • •Kbobabob
in reply to Carmakazi • • •There are literally annotations under the symbols.
Marijuana, Smile, Cross
SeeMarkFly
in reply to MicroWave • • •Squorlple
in reply to MicroWave • • •Here’s a closeup of the image
A Nigerian prince puts more effort into fooling people.
HiddenLychee
in reply to Squorlple • • •takeda
in reply to HiddenLychee • • •That was my first reaction, but apparently the letters were placed there to explain the tattoos "meaning".
Supposedly:
Marijuana stands for M
Smiley face stands for S
Cross stands for 1 for some reason
Skull stands for 3 for some reason
They forgot that:
I also couldn't find pictures of anyone else from MS13 who was using such cryptic tattoos.
Also with the interpretation is that you can literally assign any meaning to it for example:
This shows that Abrego Garcia is actually an animal lover and supports PETA.
But this is beside the point. The problem is he had no due process, and wasn't deported but human trafficked to a prison in 3rd world country.
If they have undeniable proof give it to the court and then either deport him or put him in US jail if he committed a crime.
Mearuu likes this.
JcbAzPx
in reply to takeda • • •Spanish would work for the first two, as silly as it is, since marijuana is already a spanish word and sonrisa is smile. You could almost get away with 1 for the cross, though it would be c by the logic of the first two.
The skull, though, is utter nonsense.
Nikelui
in reply to Squorlple • • •Wait, the letters are clearly digitally added on top of the photo, but aren't they just used to label the tattoos on each finger?
Not that would change anything...
DBT
in reply to Nikelui • • •Squorlple
in reply to Nikelui • • •If they wanted to indicate a translation for the symbols, they could have done so off of the part of the image consisting of the hand. Trump said verbatim “he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles”. Not symbols for MS-13, the phrase itself. Additionally, the real tattoos are clearly not on the knuckles, but the photoshopped letters are. Trump believes the photoshopped letters are actual tattoos and/or wants to convince people of it.
[EDIT: Trump 100% means to convince us that the photoshopped letters are actual tattoos. We are as cooked as the old coot’s brain.]
floofloof
in reply to Squorlple • • •He should have used a sharpie. It would be more convincing than the pixelated font that doesn't align wit the hand at all.
I have to think someone overlaid text on the photo to persuade people that the pictures on the fingers represented MS13, but Trump got the wrong end of the stick, made an idiot of himself in front of the media, and no one dared tell him he was a fucking moron.
StarMerchant938
in reply to floofloof • • •DaddleDew
in reply to Squorlple • • •Squorlple
in reply to DaddleDew • • •floofloof
in reply to Squorlple • • •Vandals_handle
in reply to floofloof • • •I read that in Gloria Estefan's voice;
Turn the E around, Microsoft confessin'
goldfndr
in reply to Vandals_handle • • •Turn it upside down,
also starts the bashin'.
barnaclebutt
in reply to Squorlple • • •CosmicTurtle0 [he/him]
in reply to Squorlple • • •There are five possibilities:
All of these have problems.
Spacehooks
in reply to CosmicTurtle0 [he/him] • • •barneypiccolo
in reply to Squorlple • • •OH, COME ON! That isn't even a plausible fake. Couldn't they find a third-grader to do a better job?
This is the HitlerPig 2.0 version of the hurricane weather map. I'm surprised he didn't just scribble on the photo with a Sharpie.
SarcasticMan
in reply to MicroWave • • •boughtmysoul
in reply to MicroWave • • •Rhaedas
in reply to MicroWave • • •takeda
in reply to Rhaedas • • •Actually these supposed to explain his tattoos, but the whole thing is still flimsy, see: lemm.ee/comment/19828278
takeda
2025-04-20 04:47:30
Pavidus
in reply to MicroWave • • •Nougat likes this.
jacksilver
in reply to Pavidus • • •like this
MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown e Mearuu like this.
WhatAmLemmy
in reply to jacksilver • • •The goal is to use fear, hatred, bigotry etc as a means to normalize authoritarianism and the destruction of rights, in exchange for non-existent "security" and "protection".
See terrorism and pedophilia.
MBech
in reply to jacksilver • • •I think this whole Garcia deportation is part of that. It wasn't supposed to in the beginning, but they're cooking with what they have.
Instead of talking about how fucking insane it is to deporting people to a death camp without any due process. We're now talking about how insane it is to deport someone who wasn't "supposed" to be deported to a death camp, and then refuse to do the bare minimum to get him back.
They've made sure we ignore the hundreds of people getting removed with no sign of evidence against their crimes.
theangryseal
in reply to MBech • • •barneypiccolo
in reply to MBech • • •This is exactly it. They flood the stage with all sorts of distractions, and then run with whatever issue gets traction. While everyone is focused on this one guy, dozens of others with the same non-criminal background are forgotten about, because they have nobody to support them, or their family didn't spot an identifying tattoo in a propaganda photo.
Eventually they'll let this guy go, and everyone will celebrate, and the Nazis will act insulted, while secretly cebrating that dozens of equally innocent people will still endure life sentences in a torture prison for the crime of being born brown.
Mog_fanatic
in reply to Pavidus • • •just_another_person
in reply to MicroWave • • •Lodespawn
in reply to MicroWave • • •iz_ok
in reply to MicroWave • • •jagged_circle
in reply to iz_ok • • •iz_ok
in reply to iz_ok • • •barnaclebutt
in reply to MicroWave • • •Etterra
in reply to MicroWave • • •Treczoks
in reply to MicroWave • • •perestroika
in reply to Treczoks • • •Anyone's hand, presented by the man whose first column in the "customs tariff table" was a ridiculous lie made up of cooked numbers (trade deficit instead of tariff rate).
There's no reason to put a grain of trust in him.
PillBugTheGreat
in reply to perestroika • • •Noobnarski
in reply to Treczoks • • •Looking at the photo on top of this thread, which shows his hand, it seems like he has the tatoos, but not the letters MS 13.
So that picture was most likely of his hands, and then someone added the MS13 to it.
Treczoks
in reply to Noobnarski • • •INHALE_VEGETABLES
Unknown parent • • •SouthEndSunset
in reply to MicroWave • • •StJohnMcCrae
in reply to SouthEndSunset • • •It's his hand. You can find other angles of it in the same article. It seems to me that the ms-13 edited onto his digits is meant to be a translation of the symbology of his tattoos:
Marijuana leaf = M
Smiley face = S
Cross = 1
Skull = 3
Is that an accurate representation of what his tattoos mean? I have no idea, I'm not an expert on gang symbology. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. The presence of a gang tattoo is something that could be submitted as evidence in court - which is a right the accused was never afforded.
What I am sure of, is that trump intentionally presented this information in such a vague manner so as to muddy the waters so he can come back later and claim his claims were misrepresented by the "lying, dishonest media" - which is itself dishonest.
It's an inkblot test. His detractors will take the claim at face value, and his supporters will dig in and claim we're stupid for not immediately taking his claims as gospel. He doesn't care if his claims hold up in court. He only cares about the court of public opinion, and right now, he's defining that conversation.
skisnow
in reply to StJohnMcCrae • • •Why does "Cross = 1, Skull = 3"? I did my best to google it but every result is comments from posts made within the last day.
What I did find was this quote in yahoo.com/news/trump-posts-ima… :
Yahoo fait partie de la famille de marques Yahoo.
www.yahoo.comStJohnMcCrae
in reply to skisnow • • •TurnWest
in reply to skisnow • • •perestroika
in reply to StJohnMcCrae • • •I'm not an expert either, but I'm from another country. Does the gang speak English? If it's an Ecuadorian gang, why would they use English abbreviations in their symbol language? It seems natural for them to use Spanish. 😀
Railcar8095
in reply to perestroika • • •Marijuana is Marihuana and Smiley is not adapted, so it's still Smiley.
The cross and the skull being 1 and 3 I have no idea what means.
Alenalda
in reply to MicroWave • • •techclothes
in reply to Alenalda • • •MedicsOfAnarchy
in reply to MicroWave • • •Auli
in reply to MicroWave • • •Hikuro-93
in reply to MicroWave • • •Even if that's real, which doesn't look like it, what's keeping them from forcing Mr. Garcia onto a chair, hold him down, while they tattoo it?
This administration and their dictator allies have shown to have no constraints, no guardrails, time and time again. Consistently. You can always blindly trust them to bs and lie their way through anything.
You gonna tell me people who tried to stage Mr. Garcia sipping some Margaritas by a hotel pool wouldn't stoop so low as to place fake tattoos on him? Yeah, that's the thing with dishonesty - even if you tell the truth once it's still gonna be called into question. The boy who cried wolf, and all that.
jagged_circle
in reply to MicroWave • • •troglodytis
in reply to MicroWave • • •acargitz
in reply to MicroWave • • •spicehoarder
in reply to acargitz • • •caboose2006
in reply to spicehoarder • • •Treczoks
in reply to acargitz • • •That was in the last century or so.
But_my_mom_says_im_cool
in reply to MicroWave • • •CalipherJones
in reply to But_my_mom_says_im_cool • • •Bosht
in reply to MicroWave • • •ExLisper
in reply to MicroWave • • •borari
in reply to ExLisper • • •Bruh. So they went from M to S to 1 to 3? Instead of A to B to C … to 1 to 2 to 3?
No. Don’t try to muddy the waters and spread more supposition as fact. Trump has already been proven to alter images to fit his own internal incorrect narrative, just look at that hurricane path incident from his last term. All evidence and common sense points to someone digitally editing this picture in order to fabricate support for this man’s illegal deportation.
HipHoboHarold
in reply to borari • • •I think the point is that we all know they put in the MS13 digitally
The argument isnt against that
We all know it
The argument is that the republicans arent arguing he literally has MS13 tattooed
But that even they know that was added
And thats its just added to help people figure out why the tattoos would represent MS13
Its not that Republicans are saying the edited in part is part of the tattoo
Just that the tattoos that are there represent MS13
rasakaf679
in reply to ExLisper • • •Marijuana= M
smiley = S
Cross= 1
Skull = 3
Thats what the printed texts above each knuckle represents. These dumb people claiming it has poor photoshop... Has something loose in their head
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In
in reply to rasakaf679 • • •I'd like some independent decoding of these symbols. He could be celebrating his Master of Science in Computer Science.
(Also, the whole Trump argument is irrelevant because they already admitted he was "deported" in error)
JcbAzPx
in reply to Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In • • •Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In
in reply to JcbAzPx • • •flango
in reply to Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In • • •Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In
in reply to flango • • •flango
in reply to JcbAzPx • • •Mongostein
in reply to flango • • •HipHoboHarold
in reply to ExLisper • • •And itd amazing to me how this is another of this shit is dumb, we dont need to make stuff up to complain about it being dumb
Like the excuses for the symbols dont make sense. We can just call that out. We dont need to lie.
Uppp
in reply to MicroWave • • •Cyrus Draegur
in reply to Uppp • • •Look. I wish he could be removed by impeachment. But we need to accept that he's an outlaw.
He is a clear proponent of extrajudicial capital punishment.
Only an overdose of his own medicine will take him down.
RealFknNito
in reply to Cyrus Draegur • • •MyNameIsIgglePiggle
in reply to RealFknNito • • •A sniper or cyanide could also work.
Or a Luigi
RealFknNito
in reply to MyNameIsIgglePiggle • • •barneypiccolo
in reply to Cyrus Draegur • • •troglodytis
Unknown parent • • •Sure. We are in agreement. That's exactly why it's important to adhere to our constitution. Due process is an instruction for how to operate our government when looking to use its violent capabilities upon individuals. "No person shall" has nothing to do with who the individual is, only how our government must go about depriving them of "life, liberty, or property", if it sees fit.
Until we change our constitution, due process for all.
teamevil
in reply to MicroWave • • •superkret
in reply to MicroWave • • •SSNs4evr
in reply to MicroWave • • •WhatYouNeed
in reply to MicroWave • • •MrShankles
in reply to INHALE_VEGETABLES • • •barneypiccolo
in reply to MicroWave • • •What insults me more than anything is that he thinks I am so stupid that I would accept that obviously doctored photo as real. I felt the same way when he pitched his hurricane weather map with his Sharpie edit.
Hey, HitlerPig, we aren't all as stupid as you, and the people around you.
HellsBelle
in reply to MicroWave • • •Who do I trust?
A lying asswipe who wouldn't know the truth if it slapped him in his orange face?
A man I don't know that has been sent to a foreign nation's prison for no reason?
Easy choice.
NoSuchAgency
in reply to HellsBelle • • •redstate.com/beccalower/2025/0…
Leftists Make Desperate Attempt to Discredit Photo of Abrego Garcia's MS-13 Tattoos. Here Are Receipts.
Becca Lower (RedState)barooboodoo (he/him)
in reply to NoSuchAgency • • •jordanlund
in reply to barooboodoo (he/him) • • •It doesn't, and actual MS-13 gang members don't bother encoding their tattoos. They straight up say "MS-13". The gang is many things, ambiguous and shy are not two of them.
They're kind of like white supremacists in that regard, they don't try to hide who they are:
Guns0rWeD13
in reply to HellsBelle • • •the individual is not the issue. it's the process. i'm not going to go to bat for some rando who might very well be involved in nefarious shit, but i will damn sure defend the idea that every person is allowed a chance to defend themself. this is the issue. people need to stop treating this dude like a saint. it could very well backfire.
in fact, leftists and liberals in general need to stop automatically assuming the opposite of everything a conservative claims is true. that's a fucking trap and it's illogical.
NoSuchAgency
in reply to MicroWave • • •redstate.com/beccalower/2025/0…
Leftists Make Desperate Attempt to Discredit Photo of Abrego Garcia's MS-13 Tattoos. Here Are Receipts.
Becca Lower (RedState)Tony Wu
in reply to NoSuchAgency • • •NoSuchAgency
in reply to Tony Wu • • •Tony Wu
in reply to NoSuchAgency • • •techclothes
in reply to NoSuchAgency • • •RizzoTheSmall
in reply to MicroWave • • •techclothes
in reply to MicroWave • • •NoSuchAgency
Unknown parent • • •NoSuchAgency
Unknown parent • • •