The Random Assortment Of Excuses ICE Used To Send Venezuelan Detainees To El Salvador Hellhole

Yahoo

31-03-2025

Tattoos of crowns and clocks, the 'I love you' symbol in sign language, being in the same area as a law enforcement target: These are all reasons, according to recent court filings, that Venezuelan men were snatched up and spirited to El Salvador, almost all without any notice to their lawyers, families or themselves about where they were being taken or why.
Many of the stories, outlined in lawyer and family member affidavits, have similar contours: A young man is taken from his home, or where he's being held, as he awaits court hearings for asylum claims. Their lawyers are confused then concerned — they struggle to locate their client, many depending on online trackers after being stonewalled or ignored by immigration officials. The lawyers and the detainees' family members gradually piece together that they may have been taken to an El Salvador megaprison — mostly through news reports or photos.
'His brother states he recognized him in the videos published by El Salvador president, Nayib Bukele,' lawyer Osvaldo Caro-Cruz said of his client in one filing, part of a set published Friday as immigration lawyers seek an injunction on President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Trump issued a presidential proclamation earlier this month to announce that he was reviving the long dormant Act to deport members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. More than one hundred detainees — many of whom vigorously deny that they are affiliated with the gang — have already been taken to a prison in El Salvador infamous for inmate death and abuse. Lawyers for the detainees argue that they were stripped of due process, deprived of even a hearing to prove that they're not gang members.
The affidavits show just how arbitrary and chilling the expulsions have been.
'On February 4, 2025, G.A.A. was in the driveway of his own home, working on fixing his car when he felt someone touch his foot and ask him to please stand up and answer some questions. It was an ICE officer who had arrived at the apartment with a picture of an individual they were looking for, an individual G.A.A. knew nothing about,' said the affidavit of the mother of one of the detainees. 'The ICE officers informed G.A.A. and his wife that they were going to enter the apartment and search for this man.'
'After they investigated the apartment and found no sign of the man they were searching for, they asked G.A.A. to take off his jacket so that they could inspect him,' it continued. 'When they saw the tattoos on his arms, they informed G.A.A. and his wife that they were going to apprehend him and inspect him further. They provided G.A.A. and his family no further explanation.'
Tattoos are a central theme of the deportations: images of crowns, flowers and clocks, claimed by ICE to be indicators of TdA involvement. Experts asserted in the filings that TdA in particular is not known to use any iconography, and that even gangs that do have been phasing it out due to its use by law enforcement to identify members. In one of the more patently absurd documents in the filings, the Chicago Homeland Security Investigations office identified wearing a Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls jersey as a sign of possible TdA affiliation.
Some of the detainees seem at particular risk of violence, including Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a gay makeup artist.
'He faced constant discrimination because of his sexual orientation. He and other station employees were forced to promote pro-Maduro content in their social media and to vote in favor of issues supported by that government,' read his lawyer's affidavit. 'He refused and the producers at his government-sponsored station attacked him and threatened to further harm him if he did not comply.'
Another, the man recognized by his brother in a video shared by the El Salvadoran president, had already suffered at the hands of the Maduro government for campaigning for the opposition.
'He was tortured, deprived of food, and physically assaulted by Venezuelan authorities and pro-government colectivos,' his lawyer said. 'His captors repeatedly told him he was a 'traitor to the homeland' and that if he was found again, he would be executed.''
Throughout the affidavits, the human suffering is clear: a partner and infant struggling to stay housed without one of the deported men's income, lawyers bombarded with calls from terrified family members, the detainees' journeys prior to their arrival in the U.S., crossing four or five countries, by foot or bus or taxi, often in the hope of escaping gang-related violence plaguing parts of Venezuela.
The haste and incompetence of the expulsions is a throughline too. The U.S. government sent eight Venezuelan women and one Nicaraguan man to the El Salvador prison — only to fly them back after being informed that the prison doesn't house women, according to the lawyers for some of the detainees.
Attorney Abigail Beckman said of her female client's experience: 'When the plane G.T.B. was on landed, she realized that she was not in Venezuela. She and the other women on the flight saw officers treat the men in their custody roughly and shave their heads. The women were devastated and crying. One of the women was crying out for her husband, and an officer slapped her across the face.'
On Wednesday, an appeals court upheld a lower court order temporarily blocking any more deportations from going forward under the proclamation. The Trump administration has appealed the order to the Supreme Court.
'I have struggled to eat and sleep properly since my son was taken,' one mother said in her affidavit. 'No mother should have to live through this.'
Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) bill — which seeks to place limits on the power of district court judges around the nation to issue nationwide injunctions — is being considered by the House Rules committee this afternoon. If it advances out of committee, it is expected to be up for a floor vote later this week. The bill already was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee in early March, so there's little reason to believe it'll be stalled by the Rules panel.
The legislation seeks to place restrictions on the nation's 677 district court judges, essentially curbing their ability to issue injunctions that have impacts on people outside of the parties to the specific case. It's one of many ways that House Republicans are attempting to respond to Trump's calls for the impeachment of judges he doesn't agree with, most recently U.S. District Judge James Boasberg. House Republican leadership reportedly knows it doesn't have the votes for impeachment, but it is entertaining ideas outside of impeachment to quell Trump's appetite as it works with Senate Republican leadership to get a budget resolution passed this week. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is also holding hearings to discuss Boasberg's recent orders and the congressman is also reportedly looking at ways to defund the judiciary.
Members of the Proud Boys and other anti-government extremist militia groups are, unironically, showing up to defend the unelected billionaire who is helping Trump in his efforts to dismantle the federal government. Elon Musk's deeply unpopular — and unconstitutional — rampage through the federal government has sent Tesla's stock tanking, dropping by more than 30 percent since January.
The militias have taken it upon themselves to defend the guy who is losing money. Per Wired:
While the protest movement comprises people angered at Elon Musk's role in the dismantling of federal government agencies, the counterprotest movement that showed up this weekend was peopled mostly by MAGA supporters. Among them were an array of far-right extremists, including members of the Proud Boys, armed militias, and at one event in Idaho, a guy dressed as Hitler.
After successfully getting Columbia University to bend the knee (agreeing to change university policy to crack down on student protests and relinquishing control over certain departments in exchange for maybe hopefully getting about $400 million in federal funding back), the Trump administration has now set its sights on Harvard. More from the New York Times:
In a statement on Monday, the administration said that it was examining about $256 million in contracts, as well as another $8.7 billion in what it described as 'multiyear grant commitments.'
Trump's WH Directly Fires Two Prosecutors In Stunning Escalation Of War On DOJ Independence
More Details on Situation at Indiana University
Stocks Mark Worst Month in Years as Trump's Tariffs Loom
More than 1,900 scientists write letter in 'SOS' over Trump's attacks on science
DOGE Accesses Federal Payroll System Over Objections of Career Staff