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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
What infuriates me so much about this operation is that it is literally punishing people for following the rules and showing up to their court hearings. It is so toxic to the basic concept of following the rules. ICE itself is effectively encouraging people to violate the law.
First, that’s not what’s happening here, people are having their cases dismissed over their objections.
And second, yes, that’s been the standard for generations where people do not waive appeal. There is by law a 30 day period to appeal before any removal order becomes final.
🚨ICE arrests continued today at immigration courts nationwide. People showing up for court are being handcuffed in the hallways by ICE officers with lists of names, after ICE prosecutors move to dismiss the case.
Here's what those officers looked in Seattle as they, per @KUOW.
Stories are coming in from around the country about these arrests, which have occurred in LA, Miami, SF, Phoenix, Seattle, NYC, Chicago, and other places with immigration courts.
The goal of the Trump admin's efforts are to erase the right to see a judge. kuow.org/stories/ice-ag…
This new effort by the Trump admin is aimed primarily at people with NO CRIMINAL RECORD. Many entered legally at a port of entry.
These people are seen as low hanging fruit for an admin wanting to juice deportation numbers by skipping the formal court process entirely.
NEW: ICE confirms that it is deporting someone to South Sudan, putting a link to an upcoming press conference on YouTube.
A hearing in Massachusetts begins in an hour. The judge ordered ICE not to transfer custody of a Vietnamese man believed to be on that flight to South Sudan.
The link is here. Chief DHS propagandist Tricia McLaughlin is talking now, beginning by emphasizing the serious criminal conduct of the people it has reportedly sent to South Sudan (murder and rape). She says South Sudan agreed to take them. youtube.com/live/p2U8Eh1VF…
McLaughlin called this a "military operation" (bull, it's a private jet contracted by ICE) and calls the men "uniquely violent monsters" and shows 8 pictures. She attacks Judge Murphy, calling him an "activist judge."
Every time she refers to the men, she calls them "monsters."
🚨UPDATE: In a late-night court hearing, the Trump admin says that it deported the Burmese man to Burma, but is REFUSING to say where they deported the Vietnamese man, claiming it’s classified!
The judge ordered ICE to tell everyone involved they may face criminal contempt.
@nytimes Here is the section of the article noting the moment when Judge Murphy ordered the DOJ lawyer at the hearing to notify everyone involved, “from the pilot of the plane to officials at the Department of Homeland Security,” that they might face charges of criminal contempt of court.
🚨According to litigators, ICE just put a dozen men on a flight to SOUTH SUDAN, a country which is on the brink of civil war, in direct defiance of a court order requiring ICE to give people an opportunity to raise objections before being sent to a country not their own.
Litigators filed an emergency request for a restraining order to halt the flight from taking off or, if it's already in the air, to turn it around.
Citing the Supreme Court's decision on the Alien Enemies Act, they emphasize that people on the flight were denied due process.
The men reportedly being sent to South Sudan include at least two of the men the administration previously tried to send to Libya.
If it's the same dozen men, it includes people from Mexico, Bolivia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and other countries.