Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Mar 30, 2025 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
NEW: An ACLU filing sheds light on how "Andry," the gay make-up artist sent to rot in a prison in El Salvador, ended up labeled "Tren de Aragua" by ICE.

Documents filed by ICE shows that the ONLY evidence ICE listed for membership in TdA was a tattoo of a crown with "mom" below. Image
Image
Here are the tattoos that ICE declared were evidence that Andry, a gay make-up artist who came to a port of entry seeking asylum from Venezuela, was a member of the vicious gang "Tren de Aragua."

I am not making this up. This is it. "Mom" and "Dad" with crowns over them. Image
The document, a gang questionnaire that was filled out when Andry was first detained by ICE, is maddening.

Andry keeps saying he has no connection with the gangs, yet the ICE officer filling out the form keeps writing in things suggesting he's linked to Tren de Aragua. Image
After interviewing Andry, who says REPEATEDLY that he is not a member of a gang, somehow an ICE officer concludes that despite all that, his two crown tattoos with "mom" and "dad" written under them are "Consistent with those of a Tren de Aragua member." Image
The document above was submitted in immigration court when his lawyers challenged the idea that he was part of Tren de Aragua and therefore a safety threat.

That was the ONLY thing they filed -- plus a link to a Newsweek article on claims of Tren de Aragua tattoos.

That's it! 23. I have attached a true and complete copy of OPLA’s evidence against my client (Exhibit A) and photos from his social media (Exhibit B). 24. These crown tattoos are the only basis of the government’s assertion, in its filing, that he is connected to Tren de Aragua. An officer says “[t]he crown has been found to be an identifier for a Tren de Aragua gang member” without offering further explanation. On a points-based rubric in the filing used by detention officers to evaluate if someone is a gang member, only the tattoo is mentioned. There are other categories for contact with other gang ...
Andry entered the country legally at a port of entry to seek asylum.

But even if he HAD entered the country illegally, that would not justify him being labeled an "alien enemy" and sent to one of the worst prisons in the world with no due process.
No, he is still in CECOT. His lawyers have been unable to get in touch with him since he was sent there on March 15.
A few dozen families in Venezuela filed habeas corpus lawsuits in El Salvador seeking to have their family members released on the grounds that they are innocent. I do not know if Andry is among them. There is no specific lawsuit in the US at this moment.

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More from @ReichlinMelnick

Feb 5
🚨HOLY CRAP. The Trump admin just took a SLEDGEHAMMER to due process, largely eliminating the Board of Immigration Appeals process and MANDATING DISMISSAL of ALL appeals (which cost $1,000 thanks to OBBBA) filed after March 9 unless a majority of the BIA votes to hear the case. Image
The Trump admin is ALSO changing the rules so that rather than 30 days to file a Notice of Appeal, people will now only have 10 days in most cases.

That's just 10 days to find $1,000 and appellate counsel for an appeal the government says it will likely automatically deny! Image
The goal is clear; mass deportations over due process. An order of removal does not become "final" until the Board of Immigration Appeals denies an appeal. After that, ICE can deport the person unless they file ANOTHER appeal to a federal circuit court AND get an emergency stay.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 3
This is a LIE. The most recent Haitian TPS grants began in August 2021, after President Moïse was assassinated by mercenaries, plunging Haiti into chaos. Thousands were killed in an earthquake two weeks later.

Since then, it’s been redesignated twice as the situation worsened.
Only about 1 in 7 people with Haitian TPS were protected in 2010 or 2011 after the earthquake. The Obama admin extended TPS for those ~50,000 people in 2012, 2014, and 2015, given the slow recovery. Here's Judge Reyes summarizing it.

In 2017, the Trump admin tried to end it. Image
Image
The fate of the 50,000 people with Haitian TPS was tied up in court battles through Trump's first term. Long story short, the admin failed to end TPS for them.

After Biden took office, President Moïse was assassinated and the situation in Haiti took a massive turn for the worse.
Read 6 tweets
Feb 3
NEW: Judge Reyes blocks the Trump admin from ending Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitians granted protection in the years following the assassination of President Moïse in July 2021.

She begins with a comparison: President Washington versus Kristi Noem. Image
Judge Reyes begins by explaining who the plaintiffs are: not "killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies" as Kristi Noem suggested.

They are a neuroscientist, a software engineer, a laboratory assistant, a registered nurse, and an economics major. All were facing deportation. Image
Right at the top, Judge Reyes lays out her official findings, after reviewing the evidence. She says it is "substantially likely" that Secretary Noem's decision to end Haitian TPS was "preordained" and based on Secretary Noem's general "hostility to nonwhite immigrants." Image
Read 20 tweets
Jan 30
BIG news from Bloomberg, which confirms that ICE has gone ahead and *purchased* some commercial warehouses with the aim of converting them into mass detention camps.

This is likely to be the big detention story of 2026 — the literal warehousing of people in converted buildings. Image
ICE has already spent $172 million to purchase two warehouses, one in Hagerstown, MD and one in Surprise, AZ.

ICE will then have to pay more to convert them into makeshift detention camps. Leaked reports suggest each of these two warehouses will hold 1,500 people each. Image
The Hagerstown and Surprise warehouse detention camps are set to be DWARFED by the purchase of a massive warehouse in El Paso where ICE wants to hold 8,500 people, making it instantly the second-largest jail in the entire United States (behind only Rikers Island in NYC). Image
Read 6 tweets
Jan 21
🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional!

ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth. Image
ICE secretly told its officers that any time someone has been ordered removed, ICE can break down their door.

It has been accepted for generations that the only thing which can authorize agents to break into your home is a warrant signed by a judge. No wonder ICE hid this memo! Image
Image
Chillingly, the whistleblower says that ICE trainers were directed (no paper trail?) to train all of ICE's new recruits that these administrative warrants authorize breaking into peoples' homes, even though DHS's own training materials still make clear that's illegal! Image
Read 9 tweets
Jan 18
Noem's claim is FALSE. Here is ICE's own data on the detention population among those arrested by ICE:

- 43% no criminal record (up from 6% last January)
- 29% one or more prior conviction*
- 28% one or more pending charge

*two most common are traffic and immigration offenses Image
Noem was confused by the question and defaulted to a different claim ICE makes; that 70% of people *arrested* by ICE have a prior criminal record or pending charges (also way down from January 2025).

As I've documented, that hasn't been true for MONTHS. Image
HOWEVER, total ICE arrests include thousands of people in criminal custody who are being transferred to ICE.

As of October, 2 out of 3 people arrested by ICE outside of a custodial setting, i.e. in American communities, have no criminal record. That's what Americans are seeing. Image
Read 8 tweets

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