Latest news with #SanchezPuentes
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Wasting Judicial Resources': Judge Shreds Trump Admin's Alien Enemies Act Case
Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a Venezuelan couple Friday after a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Trump administration's handling of their case did not have a 'lawful basis.' U.S. District Judge David Briones of El Paso wrote in a searing ruling that ICE had not demonstrated convincing evidence that Julio Cesar Sanchez Puentes and Luddis Norelia Sanchez Garcia, who were detained for nine days, are members of the Tren de Aragua gang and are therefore 'alien enemies.' This is the first case in which a judge ruled on the Trump administration's allegations that someone is a gang member subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act. President Donald Trump has invoked the infamous 1798 wartime law and claimed he can use it to deport Venezuelan migrants whom his administration claims are members of a gang that he has declared to be a terrorist organization. This is the basis his administration has used to ship hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, without due process, to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador. Briones wrote in his decision that the allegations in Sanchez Puentes and Sanchez Garcia's case were based on 'multiple levels of hearsay, hidden within declarations of declarants who have no personal knowledge about the facts they are attesting to.' 'This court takes clear offense to respondents wasting judicial resources to admit to the court it has no evidence, yet seek to have this court determine petitioner Sanchez Puentes is 'guilty by association'' by being married to his wife, Briones wrote. Sanchez Puentes and Sanchez Garcia came to the U.S. with their three children in 2022. At the border wall, they turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents, according to the nonprofit news outlet El Paso Matters. They are in the country under protected temporary status with work permits and have applied for asylum. The couple, who live in the Washington, D.C. area, had come to El Paso over a misdemeanor charge over their entry into the country following a warrant issued this year. On April 14, a federal magistrate ruled that they could be free on bail until their court date in June, but they were arrested April 16 at El Paso International Airport. Briones wrote, 'It is clear as day that respondents have not demonstrated to this court by a 'preponderance of evidence,' let alone the required 'clear, unequivocal, and convincing' evidence that petitioner Sanchez Puentes is a member of TdA, nor that he is an 'alien enemy.'' The judge ruled that Sanchez Puentes cannot be designated an 'alien enemy,' and 'his continued confinement on these grounds is therefore unlawful. Petitioner Sanchez Puentes must be released.' Writing about the claims against Sanchez Garcia, Briones pointed out that Trump administration officials 'contradict themselves throughout the entire record. Respondents claim petitioner Sanchez Garcia is somehow both 'a money receiver and lookout' as well as a 'senior member of TdA.'' 'Respondents ask this court to accept their claims, going off of nearly nothing, to substantiate their mammoth claims that Petitioner Sanchez Garcia is a 'senior member,' or perhaps just a 'member,' or maybe at the least an 'affiliate' of TdA,' the judge wrote. 'The court would not accept this evidence even in a case where only nominal damages were at stake, let alone what is at stake here.' Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at American Immigration Council, posted on X, 'This is the first case testing ICE's allegations that someone was in Tren de Aragua and thus subject to the Alien Enemies Act — and ICE utterly failed the test!' This is not the first time this year that the couple was arrested and detained. In March, a federal judge ordered their release as well. Earlier in March, a Magistrate Judge referred to the case as 'odd.' The Trump administration subsequently attempted to deport them under the Alien Enemies Act. 'They have gone through four different judges, none of whom thought they should be detained,' the couple's attorney, Chris Benoit, told El Paso Matters. 'They have deep ties to their community in the United States. They have three minor children. They've been living peacefully in our country since 2022.' 'The court ruling made clear they should not have been designated alien enemies. The consequences of that are drastic because if they were successful, César would be facing a life sentence in a brutal El Salvadoran prison. We don't know where Norelia would be, but we believe it would be in fairly similar circumstances,' he added. The Trump administration has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport supposed Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador. A judge issued an order blocking the deportations, but the Trump administration carried them out anyway. The Alien Enemies Act was previously used to justify Japanese internment during World War II. Briones also issued an injunction that blocked the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport anyone in the Western District of Texas without 21 days notice. More from Rolling Stone Zelensky Urges Trump Not to Surrender to Russia 'I Was Taken Hostage': How an American Metal Rocker Landed in Russian Prison Trump Has Now Deported Multiple U.S. Citizen Children With Cancer Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge orders release of Venezuelan couple caught up in Trump gang crackdown
A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of a Washington-area Venezuelan couple who contend they've been unfairly swept up in President Donald Trump's crackdown on the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. Luddis Sanchez Garcia, 33, and Julio Sanchez Puentes, 27, walked out of the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Friday morning surrounded by supporters after U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema declared there was no legal basis for their detention. Both have work permits and hold temporary legal status in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Erik Weiss claimed in a court filing that Sanchez Garcia 'is a senior member of the Magdaleno band of TDA.' Weiss said Sanchez Puentes 'is associated with the TDA terrorist organization,' but the only specifics officials offered about his alleged connection to the gang is that he lives with Sanchez Garcia. Brinkema, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, found the evidence in the case sorely lacking, according to a lawyer for the couple, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. 'She said if [officials] had come to her chambers seeking an arrest warrant she would have thrown them out,' he said. The judge ordered the couple immediately released so they could walk out of the courtroom, attorneys said. The legal actions against the couple are unusual in several respects. Both hold temporary protected status, which allows them to work legally in the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has ordered an end to TPS status for Venezuelans as of April 7, cutting short a Biden administration extension that would have continued through 2026. Soon after Noem announced that move, Sanchez Garcia and Sanchez Puentes filed for asylum in the U.S. According to court papers, both of the Venezuelans admitted they crossed into the U.S. illegally in Texas in 2022. The government waited until last month to file misdemeanor charges against the pair over the crossing. That led to their arrest last month near their Capitol Heights, Maryland, home where they live with their three children. Prosecutors at a court hearing on March 12 asked for the couple to be detained pending trial on the misdemeanors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey called the case 'odd,' noting the couple's work permits, work history as cleaners and what appeared to be a diligent effort to pursue their cases in the immigration system. When the pair moved to a new residence, they updated their addresses in their immigration files, which may have helped authorities locate them. The prosecutor assigned to handle the case in Washington said she was unaware that the couple had TPS status. 'I don't find they're a serious risk of flight. I don't find that they're even a vague risk of flight,' the judge said at the March 12 hearing. He turned down the detention request, saying that 'under any interpretation' the government hadn't proved their detention was necessary. However, the couple appear to have spent another day in detention because of holds immigration officials placed on them. The couple did go free for about a week. Then, as they drove in Northern Virginia last week with their three children, masked Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested the couple and took them to nearby detention facilities, according to court filings. This time, lawyers for the couple filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court in Alexandria and got an order from Brinkema to bring them to court for the Friday hearing. Sanchez Garcia is a native of Aragua, the home base of the TdA gang, immigration officials said in court filings. Weiss said she acknowledged she 'knows members' of the group and that she separated from her former husband about a decade ago, who she said was later killed by the Venezuelan government due to his affiliation with TdA. Weiss said the couple is 'ineligible' for temporary protected status because they 'pose a danger to the security of the United States' as a result of their ties to TdA. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office in Alexandria declined to comment. A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated the couple's ages.
Politico
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Judge orders release of Venezuelan couple caught up in Trump gang crackdown
A federal judge has ordered the immediate release of a Washington-area Venezuelan couple who contend they've been unfairly swept up in President Donald Trump's crackdown on the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. Luddis Sanchez Garcia, 33, and Julio Sanchez Puentes, 27, walked out of the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, Friday morning surrounded by supporters after U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema declared there was no legal basis for their detention. Both have work permits and hold temporary legal status in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Erik Weiss claimed in a court filing that Sanchez Garcia 'is a senior member of the Magdaleno band of TDA.' Weiss said Sanchez Puentes 'is associated with the TDA terrorist organization,' but the only specifics officials offered about his alleged connection to the gang is that he lives with Sanchez Garcia. Brinkema, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, found the evidence in the case sorely lacking, according to a lawyer for the couple, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. 'She said if [officials] had come to her chambers seeking an arrest warrant she would have thrown them out,' he said. The judge ordered the couple immediately released so they could walk out of the courtroom, attorneys said. The legal actions against the couple are unusual in several respects. Both hold temporary protected status, which allows them to work legally in the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has ordered an end to TPS status for Venezuelans as of April 7, cutting short a Biden administration extension that would have continued through 2026. Soon after Noem announced that move, Sanchez Garcia and Sanchez Puentes filed for asylum in the U.S. According to court papers, both of the Venezuelans admitted they crossed into the U.S. illegally in Texas in 2022. The government waited until last month to file misdemeanor charges against the pair over the crossing. That led to their arrest last month near their Capitol Heights, Maryland, home where they live with their three children. Prosecutors at a court hearing on March 12 asked for the couple to be detained pending trial on the misdemeanors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey called the case 'odd,' noting the couple's work permits, work history as cleaners and what appeared to be a diligent effort to pursue their cases in the immigration system. When the pair moved to a new residence, they updated their addresses in their immigration files, which may have helped authorities locate them. The prosecutor assigned to handle the case in Washington said she was unaware that the couple had TPS status. 'I don't find they're a serious risk of flight. I don't find that they're even a vague risk of flight,' the judge said at the March 12 hearing. He turned down the detention request, saying that 'under any interpretation' the government hadn't proved their detention was necessary. However, the couple appear to have spent another day in detention because of holds immigration officials placed on them. The couple did go free for about a week. Then, as they drove in Northern Virginia last week with their three children, masked Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested the couple and took them to nearby detention facilities, according to court filings. This time, lawyers for the couple filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court in Alexandria and got an order from Brinkema to bring them to court for the Friday hearing. Sanchez Garcia is a native of Aragua, the home base of the TdA gang, immigration officials said in court filings. Weiss said she acknowledged she 'knows members' of the group and that she separated from her former husband about a decade ago, who she said was later killed by the Venezuelan government due to his affiliation with TdA. Weiss said the couple is 'ineligible' for temporary protected status because they 'pose a danger to the security of the United States' as a result of their ties to TdA. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office in Alexandria declined to comment. A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
