Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was reluctant to say Wednesday whether “MS-13″ was superimposed onto a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s finger tattoos posted by President Donald Trump, setting off a heated exchange while she testified to a House committee.

Last month, Trump posted the photo of the Maryland man mistakenly deported to a brutal prison in El Salvador to his Truth Social media account, in which “M-S-1-3″ were labeled above four tattoos etched onto Abrego Garcia’s left hand.

“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.’ They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles, and two Highly Respected Courts found that he was a member of MS-13, beat up his wife, etc,” the president wrote.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., showed a copy of the photo as Noem testified before the House Homeland Security Committee, asking the secretary if the “M-S-1-3″ was doctored.

Noem initially declined to say if it was, instead saying Abrego Garcia’s apprehension “wasn’t based off tattoos, it was based off an entire case.”

“Madam Secretary, I want you to have credibility and I want you to be taken seriously. Is this doctored or not doctored?” Swalwell asked, but Noem again declined to answer.

“Madam Secretary, I have a 7-year-old, a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old. I have a bulls..t detector. I’m just asking you: ‘Is this doctored or not doctored?’” Swalwell continued.

Noem deflected.

“You don’t want to talk about the facts? … This is unbelievable to me that you’re focused on a photo ..” she said before adding that she had no knowledge of the photo.

“Ok, so it’s been hanging around for four weeks. You are one of the chief law enforcement officials in the country. What have you done to investigate whether the president misrepresented the reason that person has been detained?” Swalwell asked. “Have you done anything to figure out if that was doctored or not?”

“The mission of the Department of Homeland Security is to secure our nation,” Noem responded. “Abrego Garcia is a known terrorist, a member of MS-13, a wife beater and a human trafficker that should never have been in this country to begin with.”

During the exchange, Swalwell slammed Noem’s use of photo-ops, including the secretary posting a video of herself in front of inmates at the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador where Abrego Garcia was being held.

“I’m a former prosecutor. I have put people away for life sentences who are gang members. I don’t need to wear costumes to show how tough I am,” he said. “What makes me different from you is when I put those individuals away, I did it with the weight of the law behind me.”