LGBTQ+ Venezuelan deported and 'disappeared' over mischaracterized tattoos, lawyer says
An LGBTQ+ Venezuelan seeking asylum in the U.S. was deported and 'disappeared' after immigration officials reportedly misinterpreted his tattoos as symbols for the violent Tren de Aragua gang, a person from the man's legal team posted to X.
'Our client worked in the arts in Venezuela. He is LGBTQ. His tattoos are benign,' Lindsay Toczylowski, the president, CEO, and co-founder of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, posted to X on Friday. 'But ICE submitted photos of his tattoos as evidence he is Tren de Aragua. His attorney planned to present evidence he is not. But never got the chance because our client has been disappeared.'
The lawyer used the term "disappeared" which is synonymous with what the UN calls 'enforced disappearance.' The body defines that as "the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law."
The unnamed Venezuelan asylum-seeker arrived in the country last year, but was reportedly detained upon entry by immigration officials who saw the man's tattoos as signifying his affiliation with the Venezuelan crime group.
Toczylowski said their client was due for a court appearance on Thursday. Officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not bring the asylum-seeker to the hearing, however, and provided no details about why their client was not made available. The judge rescheduled the hearing for Monday while attorneys attempted to locate the missing man.
By Monday, the man was again not made available for his court appearance, and his name no longer appeared in the online system for locating detainees. Toczylowski posted she fears the worst for the man.
'Our client came to the US seeking protection but has spent months in ICE prisons, been falsely accused of being a gang member and today he has been forcibly transferred, we believe, to El Salvador,' Toczylowski reported. 'We are horrified tonight thinking what might happen to him now.'
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, part of the broader Alien and Sedition Acts, gives the president broad powers to deport non-citizens in the country under certain conditions.
'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies,' the text of the act reads.
In his executive order announcing the use of the Alien Enemies Act, Pres. Trump declared that the criteria existed for him to act. The act has been used only three previous times in U.S. history: during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. More than 30,000 people were interned in camps during World War II over the act.
'I find and declare that TdA is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States,' Trump declared in the executive order. 'TdA is undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela. I make these findings using the full extent of my authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs under the Constitution.'
Trump's deportation orders hit a snag when U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg tried to halt the deportations and order planes already in flight to turn around. Since the planes were over international waters, however, Trump noted the judge no longer had jurisdiction, and the planes did not turn around. Additionally, Trump is disputing that the case is justiciable, claiming the president has plenary powers over national security, and the act gives the president broad authority in such matters. As a result, the administration has refused to provide additional information to the courts regarding the case and others, claiming the judge has stepped outside the powers granted to the courts under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, Toczylowski lamented the current situation for immigrants and asylum seekers.
'What happened today is a dark moment in our history,' Toczylowki wrote. 'One bright spot in this madness that I see are the many lawyers and advocates across the country who spent their Saturday fighting like hell to preserve justice in the face of horrific cruelty. And we will keep fighting.'
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