Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell warned Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem that he has a “bullsh— detector” during a heated exchange about a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran citizen who the Trump administration deported.
Swalwell was grilling Noem about a photo of Abrego Garcia’s hand that shows alleged MS-13 tattoos during a Homeland Security budget hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
“I want you to have credibility and I want you to be taken seriously. Is this doctored or is it not?” Swalwell asked, referring to the photo that President Donald Trump shared on social media. Swalwell was asserting that the letters “M,” “S” and the numbers “1” and “3” above the tattoos were edited onto the photo.
Noem tried to respond, saying that the deportation of Abrego Garcia was based off an investigation, not a photo, but was interrupted by Swalwell.
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President Donald Trump in the Oval Office holding a photo of the tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s knuckles that the White House says are affiliated with the MS-13 terrorist group. (Donald Trump TRUTH Social)
“Madam Secretary, I have a seven-year-old, a six-year-old and a three-year-old,” Swalwell said. “I have a bulls— detector. I’m just asking you, is this doctored or not?”
Noem replied that it was “unbelievable” that the lawmaker’s focus was on a photo and not on the importance of U.S. national security, before saying she had “no knowledge” of the photo in question.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before a House Homeland Security hearing on the Department of Homeland Security budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (REUTERS/Anna Rose Layden)
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Last month, President Donald Trump shared a photo of himself in the Oval Office holding a picture of what the White House said were tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s knuckles that are affiliated with the MS-13 terrorist group.
Swalwell is a member of the House Homeland Security committee. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, File)
While Swalwell continued to use his time to push Noem about the photo, the secretary responded that the mission of DHS is to secure the country and go after “the worst of the worst, the criminals, the bad actors.”
“Abrego Garcia is a known terrorist and member of MS-13, a wife beater and a human trafficker that should never have been in this country to begin with,” Noem said.
