El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has released a video montage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia engaging in various leisure activities while in custody, in an attempt to debunk the migrant’s claims that he was tortured after being deported under the Trump administration.
The footage, shared on social media, shows Abrego Garcia gardening, playing soccer, fishing, exercising, and watching television. Bukele used the video to challenge sworn statements from Abrego Garcia’s attorneys that he had been physically abused, deprived of sleep, and psychologically tormented during his time in a Salvadoran prison.
Abrego Garcia, who was living in Maryland and deported in March 2025, was first held at the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), before being moved to a lower-security facility in Santa Ana in April. Bukele did not clarify which facility the video was filmed at.
According to court documents, Abrego Garcia’s health deteriorated quickly at CECOT, allegedly losing over 30 pounds within two weeks. But Bukele pushed back, saying he gained weight in custody and looked healthy. “If he was tortured, starved, and sleep-deprived, why does he look so well?” Bukele asked on X. “Why no bruises? Why no dark circles?”
The video also includes footage from Abrego Garcia’s April 17 meeting with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), where he appears alert and physically stable. Bukele claimed the senator’s visit further proved that the prisoner’s condition was being misrepresented by his legal team and the press.
Bukele also criticized Western media outlets and U.S. courts for allegedly taking Abrego Garcia’s claims at face value. “Apparently, anything a criminal says is believed by the mainstream media and the collapsing Western judiciary,” he wrote.
Since invoking a nationwide state of emergency in 2022, Bukele’s administration has detained more than 1% of El Salvador’s population in a sweeping crackdown on gangs. The country’s murder rate plummeted from one of the world’s highest in 2015 to just 1.9 per 100,000 in 2024—one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere.
But human rights organizations have raised alarms about conditions in Salvadoran prisons, citing reports of hundreds of deaths in custody and widespread abuse.
Abrego Garcia became a symbol of Democratic opposition to Trump’s mass deportation policies after his controversial removal from the U.S. despite ongoing legal proceedings. A judge later ruled that he was deported in error and ordered his return, which occurred in late spring.
The Trump administration maintains that Abrego Garcia is affiliated with the MS-13 gang, accusing him of being a human trafficker and a repeat domestic abuser. Trump has previously held up photos of the tattoos on Abrego Garcia’s hands, claiming they are gang-related.
In legal filings, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys claim he was immediately brutalized upon arrival at CECOT—dragged, kicked, and beaten with wooden batons. They say he was made to sleep on metal beds, given minimal food, and forced to kneel for hours overnight while being threatened with transfer to cells holding violent gang members.
The Trump administration’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has said that Abrego Garcia’s gang affiliation made him ineligible for any immigration relief once Trump designated MS-13 as a terrorist organization.
The legal and political battle over Abrego Garcia’s case continues, highlighting the deep divide between state immigration protections, federal deportation authority, and international human rights concerns.
