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Salvador President Naive Buquere has released a video highlight reel showing Kilmer Abrego Garcia, who appears to have thrived clearly during his jail time, attempting to refute immigrants’ claims that he was tortured during his custody.
Abrego Garcia, who was sentenced by the judge, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration and then returned after court orders, but enjoys video gardening, football, fishing and other leisurely activities while incarcerated in his home country.
The video appears in conflict with the allegations in Abrego Garcia’s legal application, where he was severely beaten, lost sleep and psychologically tortured while in custody.
Abrego Garcia was first held in March at the National Terrorism Confinement Centre, or CECOT, a notorious counterterrorism prison, and was transported to a low-security facility in Santa Ana in mid-April. Bukere has not said which prison the footage was taken from.
According to court documents, Abrego Garcia’s condition deteriorated rapidly upon his arrival at CECOT, losing about 31 pounds within two weeks.
Salvador President Naive Buquere has released a video highlight reel showing Kilmer Abrego Garcia, who appears to have thrived clearly during his jail time, attempting to refute immigrants’ claims that he was tortured during his custody. (Fox News; @nayibbukelfox News; @nayibbukel)
Abrego Garcia says he endured assault and torture in a Salvador prison before the criminal trial
But Bukel opposed these claims on Thursday, claiming that he actually gained weight and released video evidence to counter the torture claims.
This video shows Abrego Garcia in a seemingly good spirit, playing chess and soccer, working with fellow inmates, gardening, and relaxing while watching widescreen TV in his cell.
“If he was tortured, lack of sleep and starved, why does he look so good in all the pictures?” Buckel writes to X:
D-MD Sen. Chris Van Hollen will meet with Kilmer Armando Abrego Garcia (L) at a private location not being held in San Salvador, El Salvador on April 17, 2025. (Senator Van Hollen’s office via Getty Images)
“The man was not tortured and he didn’t lose weight. In fact, the photos show that he gained weight while in custody. There are plenty of footage from different days, including a meeting with Senator Van Hollen.
To tear the mainstream media and appear to believe the claims.
Trump’s remarks could come back to bite him in Abrego Garcia’s deportation fight
“It appears that criminal claims are being accepted as truth by the mainstream media and the collapsed Western judiciary,” writes Bukere.
Under the Bukere emergency, the government has detained more than 1% of the Central American population in war with the country’s gangs. The president once was the most dangerous country in the world, with a murder rate of 103 per 100,000 people in 2015, 1.9 per 100,000 people in 2024, and 5.5 per 100,000 people in 2023.
President Donald Trump shakes the hand of El Salvador President Naive Buquere at a meeting at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Monday, April 14, 2025.
Hundreds of people have died in prisons in El Salvador, citing human rights groups, documenting cases of torture and worsening conditions, according to the Associated Press.
Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland after illegally coming to the United States, was deported to El Salvador in March 2025. He became a prominent face of Democrats’ resistance to the Trump administration’s plan to expel the U.S.
The Trump administration has accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, a trafficker and serial domestic abuser in police reports that his wife used violence against her.
President Donald Trump, who is in the Oval Office, is partnering with the MS-13 terrorist group, holding a photo of the Abrego Garcia Knuckles tattoo as the White House says. (Donald Trump Truth Social)
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Abrego Garcia’s lawyers alleged that when he arrived at the prison he was soon turned into a frog in his cell by prison guards.
He and other detainees in the cell slept on metal mattresses, minimizing access to food and saturation. They were also forced to kneel, from 9pm to 6am, “attacking security guards who hit people who have fallen from fatigue,” according to the application.
They also claimed he was psychologically tortured and threatened with violence during his time at CECOT, and prison guards told him he would transfer him to other prison cells that house violent gang members, and he assures him that he would “tear.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said when Trump declared the violent gang as a terrorist organization, Abrego Garcia was no longer eligible for US immigration relief, which prompted deportation.
Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can submit tips to Michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
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