Latest news with #Bier
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
U.S. deported 50 Venezuelans with legal status to El Salvador: study
At least 50 Venezuelans who were deported and sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador came to the United States legally and never violated immigration law, according to a new analysis from the libertarian Cato Institute. The report compiled family accounts, along with entry documents and witness testimony, to determine how they crossed into the United States and what likely led to their detention. 'The government calls them all 'illegal aliens.' But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced U.S. government permission, at an official border crossing point,' the report stated. More than 200 Venezuelans were deported to El Salvador in March following a wave of detentions and executive orders on immigration. Since then, they have had no access to lawyers or the ability to communicate with their families. The records reviewed includes a temporary visa holder and four men who were authorized to travel through the U.S. refugee program. At least 45 scheduled appointments using the CBP One app, through which they were permitted to seek entry. Among those with appointments, 24 were given a permit to enter the U.S. and to stay for up to two years, while the other 21 were detained at the port of entry, according to the study. The Venezuelans were held at the Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum security prison that can hold up to 40,000 people. They were construction laborers, pipe installers, cooks, delivery drivers, a soccer coach, a makeup artist, a mechanic, a veterinarian, a musician and an entrepreneur, the study found. David Bier, director of Immigration Studies at Cato and author of the analysis, said the findings underscore a broader goal not simply to target illegal immigration, but to reduce immigration overall. 'It reveals a grave threat to the rights of noncitizens in the United States,' Bier said. 'And it may permanently change how people around the world view the United States: not as the land of freedom and rule of law, but a land of arbitrary detention at the whims of its leader like Russia or North Korea.' The Venezuelans were deported under the authority of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime declaration. The detentions are tied to suspicions of gang affiliation, but how those suspicions are formed raises concerns. Immigration officials flagged them as suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang based on tattoos and a point-based system, according to a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed against the Donald Trump administration. The Cato report found that 42 were labeled as gang members primarily based on their tattoos, 'which Venezuelan gangs do not use to identify members and are not reliable indicators of gang membership.' 'All these legal immigrants denied gang membership, and only two appear to have had a U.S. criminal conviction of any kind, both for minor drug offenses,' Cato wrote in its report. J. Tony Lopez, an immigration attorney in Tampa, said that once a deportation takes place, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically refuses to share further details, leaving families without clarity on their relatives' whereabouts or status. Two women in Tampa have been unable to get information about their deported Venezuelan partners. One of them, Liyanara Sánchez, recognized her husband, Frengel Reyes Mota, in a video aired two weeks ago by One America News Network. It's her only proof he's alive. The other woman, Angela Leal, has not received any news about her boyfriend, Luis Carlos Jose Marcano.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Report: 50 Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Entered the U.S. Legally, Contrary to White House Claims
The Trump administration insists that the Venezuelan men it sent to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador were all "illegal aliens" connected to a violent gang, but at least 50 of them entered the country legally, according to a new report by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. David J. Bier, director of immigration policy at the Cato Institute, tried to gather information on 238 Venezuelan men identified by CBS News who were sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration earlier this year—an incomplete list because the administration has never released a full manifest. Of the 90 cases where Bier could determine a method of entry, 50 men had entered the country legally as refugees, parolees, or temporary visa holders. They were vetted in advance and entered the U.S. through an official border crossing point. That is, they violated no immigration law. The Cato report follows a CBS News investigation that also found that 75 percent of the men on the list had no criminal record in the U.S. or abroad. "The basic framework that [Trump administration officials] are putting forward to the public is that these people aren't entitled to any rights in the United States because they were here illegally, and therefore they can do whatever they want with them," Bier says. "Obviously, there's a lot to take issue with that premise to begin with, but our review shows that in fact, they're doing this to people who did come legally and did follow immigration laws, and so whatever argument they're making is just not applicable to those people." And the number of legal immigrants makes it hard to believe that it was a mistake. "It's not just one or two administrative errors, as they like to say," Bier continues. "This was an intentional campaign that they've carried out to include legal immigrants in the group that they sent to El Salvador." The Trump administration claims the men are "criminal terrorists" connected to Tren de Aragua (TdA), a violent Venezuelan gang. The White House justified their summary expulsion from the U.S. and incarceration in an El Salvador prison under a dubious invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) of 1798, claiming that they were part of an "invasion" or "predatory incursion" of the U.S. Under an extraordinary deal with El Salvador, the Trump administration sent those men to Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a maximum-security prison camp. The administration has claimed its sweeping powers under the AEA allow it to detain and deport suspected TdA members without any judicial review or due process. But media investigations have shown that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) determined some of those men were TdA "terrorists" based on innocuous tattoos that DHS claimed were gang-related. In reality, the pictures of alleged TdA tattoos that DHS relied on were lifted from unrelated social media. "For instance, DHS obtained its TdA 'Jordan' from a Michael Jordan fan account in the United States," the Cato report says. "It pulled its AK-47 tattoo from a Turkish tattoo artist." For example, the report says that one of the 50 Venezuelan men, Gustavo Adolfo Aguilera Aguero, entered the U.S. legally as a parolee in 2023, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeted him for his tattoos: "a crown with his son's name, a star with his and his mom's name, and a song lyric 'real until death' from Puerto Rican reggaeton artists Anuel AA." Despite this, DHS has continued to claim, both in individual cases where evidence shows otherwise and generally, that these men were illegal aliens. In response to a request for comment for this story, the DHS continued to insist that CECOT detainees all entered the U.S. illegally, without providing any refutation of Cato's report. "Illegal aliens in CECOT have final deportation orders and are high threat criminals," DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Reason. "The media should take a beat from doing the bidding of vicious alien gangsters, peddling their false sob stories and finally write about American victims." "Many of the individuals that are counted as 'non-criminals' are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters and more; they just don't have a rap sheet in the U.S." McLaughlin continued. "Further, every single one of these individuals committed a crime when they came into this country illegally. It is not an accurate description to say they are 'non-criminals.' This deceptive categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public." For Bier, the most worrying implication of his findings is what would have happened if courts hadn't blocked the deportation flights after the first day. "The most shocking thing I think is just the scale of this," Bier says. "This was 50 in one day, right? [The Trump administration] got shut down after that, at least partially. What would we be seeing if this was allowed to continue? They're not hiding their intention to continue it, either. This would be hundreds and hundreds of people, thousands over the course of a year, being sent to a foreign prison without any charges against them, without any due process. It's just incredible." Of course, it's important to note that migrants who enter the country illegally are still entitled to due process under the Constitution, no matter how much the Trump White House insists they're not. But as George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin wrote, the Cato report underscores the lawlessness of the AEA removals. "Elsewhere, I have argued that the distinction between legal and illegal immigration is not as morally significant as many tend to think," Somin wrote at The Volokh Conspiracy. "Nonetheless, the fact that most of the AEA deportees have no criminal records and many (perhaps a majority) entered the US legally makes the Trump Administration's actions even more odious than they would be otherwise. David Bier is right to call them a 'crime against humanity.'" The post Report: 50 Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Entered the U.S. Legally, Contrary to White House Claims appeared first on
The Herald Scotland
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
US removed Venezuelans with legal status to Salvadoran prison
"They've effectively turned these legal immigrants into illegal aliens," said David Bier, director of immigration studies at Cato and lead author of the May 19 report. "It's shocking the extent to which the government has attempted to conceal information about these people," Bier told USA TODAY. Cato found that 50 of the men entered legally into the United States out of about 90 who had known routes of entry into the country. They include construction workers, cooks, delivery drivers, a soccer coach, a veterinarian and a makeup artist. The White House didn't respond directly to Cato's findings and deferred agency-specific questions to the Department of Homeland Security. "Illegal aliens removed to CECOT are dangerous criminals and pose a risk to the American public," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "USA TODAY should cover the victims of criminal illegal aliens instead of carrying water for the criminals." DHS didn't respond to requests for comment. Many of the men entered legally Among the 50 people who entered legally, one had a tourist visa and four were refugees. Meanwhile, 45 people were permitted entry through the CBP One App, a Biden-era app that allowed migrants to seek asylum outside of the country and schedule an appointment with American immigration officials. The Trump administration has transformed it into a self-deport app. Of those who used CBP One, 24 people were paroled into the country to live and work legally for up to two years, while 21 others were detained when they turned up for their appointment. Before arriving in the country, the people were vetted and screened, had advanced permission to enter, and didn't violate immigration law, Bier's review said. Then, the government "turned around and 'disappeared' them without due process to a foreign prison." No public information confirming criminality In addition, officials have called the men criminals and members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, though they have publicly provided little evidence of guilt. The Trump administration has cited tattoos they say prove gang ties. Experts say the tattoos offer no confirmation of any allegiance to Tren de Aragua or other Venezuelan gangs. Few of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT have criminal records, according to analyses by researchers and journalists. Reuters found dozens had active asylum cases. CBS News, which obtained a list of names, couldn't find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans, either in the United States or abroad. The New York Times found little evidence the men had criminal backgrounds. The families of the legal immigrants denied gang membership, Cato noted. Just two of the 50 legal immigrants appear to have had any type of criminal conviction in the United States, both for minor drug offenses: Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel, 27, who entered using CBP One, had a misdemeanor in Texas for possessing drug paraphernalia, reportedly from a marijuana trimmer found in his coworker's car, according to NBC News; Tourist visa holder Kevin Nieto Contreras, 27, pleaded guilty to a 2023 offense where "a small amount" of prohibited substance was found at a Colorado nightclub, according to the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. There is no publicly available information on about one-third of the men sent to CECOT, Cato said. Some information was available for about 85 of the men, but it wasn't clear how they had crossed. Much of the information, Bier said, has only come through journalists and other outside groups obtaining facts about the men. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
USA Today
20-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump sent 50 Venezuelans to prison in El Salvador. They were in the US legally.
Trump sent 50 Venezuelans to prison in El Salvador. They were in the US legally. Trump administration says they're gang members in the US illegally. Available information finds they entered legally, had no criminal charges. Show Caption Hide Caption First 'self deportation' flight leaves with group of migrants The first Department of Homeland Security 'self deportation' flight left with a group of 64 migrants. At least 50 of the Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to a prison in El Salvador entered the United States legally, according to a libertarian think tank. The analysis by the Cato Institute, which favors limited government, contradicts the federal government's assertion that all 240 men they sent to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, were gang members living in the United States illegally. 'They've effectively turned these legal immigrants into illegal aliens,' said David Bier, director of immigration studies at Cato and lead author of the May 19 report. 'It's shocking the extent to which the government has attempted to conceal information about these people," Bier told USA TODAY. Cato found that 50 of the men entered legally into the United States out of about 90 who had known routes of entry into the country. They include construction workers, cooks, delivery drivers, a soccer coach, a veterinarian and a makeup artist. The White House didn't respond directly to Cato's findings and deferred agency-specific questions to the Department of Homeland Security. "Illegal aliens removed to CECOT are dangerous criminals and pose a risk to the American public," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "USA TODAY should cover the victims of criminal illegal aliens instead of carrying water for the criminals.' DHS didn't respond to requests for comment. Many of the men entered legally Among the 50 people who entered legally, one had a tourist visa and four were refugees. Meanwhile, 45 people were permitted entry through the CBP One App, a Biden-era app that allowed migrants to seek asylum outside of the country and schedule an appointment with American immigration officials. The Trump administration has transformed it into a self-deport app. Of those who used CBP One, 24 people were paroled into the country to live and work legally for up to two years, while 21 others were detained when they turned up for their appointment. Before arriving in the country, the people were vetted and screened, had advanced permission to enter, and didn't violate immigration law, Bier's review said. Then, the government "turned around and 'disappeared' them without due process to a foreign prison.' No public information confirming criminality In addition, officials have called the men criminals and members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, though they have publicly provided little evidence of guilt. The Trump administration has cited tattoos they say prove gang ties. Experts say the tattoos offer no confirmation of any allegiance to Tren de Aragua or other Venezuelan gangs. Few of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT have criminal records, according to analyses by researchers and journalists. Reuters found dozens had active asylum cases. CBS News, which obtained a list of names, couldn't find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans, either in the United States or abroad. The New York Times found little evidence the men had criminal backgrounds. The families of the legal immigrants denied gang membership, Cato noted. Just two of the 50 legal immigrants appear to have had any type of criminal conviction in the United States, both for minor drug offenses: Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, 27, who entered using CBP One, had a misdemeanor in Texas for possessing drug paraphernalia, reportedly from a marijuana trimmer found in his coworker's car, according to NBC News; Tourist visa holder Kevin Nieto Contreras, 27, pleaded guilty to a 2023 offense where 'a small amount' of prohibited substance was found at a Colorado nightclub, according to the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. There is no publicly available information on about one-third of the men sent to CECOT, Cato said. Some information was available for about 85 of the men, but it wasn't clear how they had crossed. Much of the information, Bier said, has only come through journalists and other outside groups obtaining facts about the men. Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@ or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Was Lying—He Deported a Lot of Legal Immigrants to El Salvador
More than 50 of the 240 Venezuelan men that President Trump deported to the CECOT megaprison in El Salvador came to the United States legally, poking yet another hole in the Trump administration's narrative that these are all dangerous Tren de Aragua gang members. 'Cato published my review of the ~240 Venezuelans the US government renditioned 2 months ago to Salvador's notorious prison,' wrote David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. 'We identified FIFTY who came legally, never violated any immigration law, but are imprisoned at the US government's request and at US taxpayer expense.' Two dozen of the men were parolees who came in at normal ports of entry, 21 came through CPB One appointments, four were granted refugee status by the U.S. government, and one had a tourist visa, according to Cato's review. The Trump administration still had them all deported on the grounds that they were gang members who had illegally infiltrated our precious country. He even went so far as to invoke the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798. 'Well this is a time of war. Because Biden allowed millions of people, many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level.… Other nations emptied their jails into the United States, it's an invasion,' Trump said at the time of the deportations. 'These are criminals, many many criminals … murderers, drug dealers at the highest level, drug lords. People from mental institutions. That's an invasion.' We now know this is completely false. 'DHS continues to slander & lie about [the migrants], calling them all 'illegal aliens.' When confronted with the lies, DHS lies more. For instance, it says Ricardo 'entered illegally at a port of entry via the CBP One.' It literally just describes a legal entry as 'illegal,'' Bier wrote. 'We found DHS labeling LEGAL immigrants gang members for tattoos: roses, clocks, playing cards covering up a scar from a childhood accident, a Puerto Rican song lyric, the Real Madrid logo, a callout to Call Of Duty videogame, many crowns w/ loved ones' names like these on Andry [José Hernández Romero].' As Bier noted, the Trump administration could care less about the innocence of these men or about the authority of the Supreme Court to stop his deportation crackdown. Anyone getting in his way is simply a leftist, activist judge who is 'sabotaging democracy.' The administration continues to spin tall tales of criminality while fathers, sons, brothers, and innocent men rot in a Salvadoran gulag.
