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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
@ReichlinMelnick
Senior Fellow @immcouncil. Tweeting on immigration policy and data. Formerly immigration lawyer with @IJCorps. Views my own, retweets =/= endorsements.
13 subscribers
May 1 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Here's a quick 🧵 on WHY this Trump-appointed judge ruled the way he did.

First, look at the actual text of the Alien Enemies Act itself. It can only be used during a "declared war" or any "invasion or predatory incursion" by a foreign nation or government against the U.S.

1/4 Image Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act claimed that (1) Tren de Aragua is a "foreign nation or government" because it's controlled by Venezuela, and (2) that the gang was "perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion" against the US with its criminal acts.

2/4 Image
Apr 30 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
NEW! Two weeks ago Trump was stopped from sending more people to be imprisoned in El Salvador. Now we're learning who they were — and the stories are OUTRAGEOUS.

One guy was accused of being in TdA because of his tattoos, which include Pikachu, Toad, and Patrick from SpongeBob! Image Another man facing imminent risk of being imprisoned in El Salvador potentially for life is a guy working at H-E-B- and doing Doordash on the side.

His tattoos? A pocket watch with the date his father passed away, and roses to honor his family. ICE said they were gang tattoos! Image
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Apr 28 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
BUT THERE'S MORE: the House GOP reconciliation package would ALSO supersize immigration enforcement through vast sums of money.

The biggest item is $45 BILLION for ICE detention through FY2029, which would be a 364% annual increase to the current $3.4 billion detention budget! Image Another HUGE increase would occur with ICE's Transportation and Removal Operations line item, which would get $14.4 BILLION dollars through FY2029 -- an increase of 400% over the current $721 million budget for the ICE component which is responsible for deportation flights. Image
Apr 28 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: The House GOP's reconciliation package would DRAMATICALLY reshape immigration via fees, and mostly end asylum for the poor.

The bill imposes a $1,000 unwaivable fee to apply for asylum, plus $550 every 6 months for work permits and $100 for every year the case drags on.

🧵 Image The reconciliation package would also charge anyone sponsoring an unaccompanied child out of an ORR shelter $8,500(!), of which $5,000 would be reimbursable if the child was not ordered deported "in absentia" for missing court.

That's a price that would stop nearly all sponsors. Image
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Apr 26 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: In a SCATHING decision, Judge Briones in El Paso absolutely SAVAGED the government over this case, tearing to shreds ICE’s hearsay “evidence” that this husband and wife were in Tren de Aragua as “completely and wholly unsubstantiated” — and ordered their immediate release! CONCLUSION For the reasons stated above, this Court determines it has jurisdiction over the instant matter and Respondents have not demonstrated they have any lawful basis to continue detaining Petitioners Julio Cesar Sanchez Puentes and Luddis Norelia Sanchez Garcia in federal immigration custody. Respondents concede they are not detaining Petitioners under any authority in the Immigration and Nationality Act. Further, Respondents have not set forth sufficient nor adequate evidence that Petitioners are in fact members of Tren de Aragua to warrant an alien enemy designation under the TdA Pr... 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 Court takes clear offense to Respondents wasting judicial resources to admit to the Court it has no evidence” 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." This Court found no need to even allow closing arguments as to Petitioner Sanchez Puentes at the April 23, 2025 Habeas Corpus Hearing. It is clear as day that Respondents have not demonstrated to this Court by a "preponderance of the evidence", let alone the required "clear, unequivocal, and convincing" evidence that Petitioner Sanchez Puentes is a member o...
Apr 22 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: Judge Xinis largely rejects DOJ's opposition to discovery requests in the Abrego Garcia case, accusing the Trump admin of "a willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations," citing their continued denial to acknowledge what the Supreme Court ordered. Image Judge Xinis also denies the government's invocation of various privileges, saying the DOJ has "stubbornly refuse[d] to provide any basis" for the invocation of privilege, and says the DOJ has lost the presumption of good faith due to "repeated refusals to meet and confer." Image
Apr 21 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Occam's Razor suggests the Border Patrol agent lied. That's backed up by the fact that one claim made by the agent is provably false; that he was arrested near Nogales. That lie matters because this sworn statement claims he entered the day before, and Nogales is 70 miles south. Border Patrol's clear lie on a sworn statement that the man was arrested "at or near Nogales, AZ" makes every part of the documentation of his arrest suspect.

In fact, if you read the whole sworn statement, much of it appears to be based off of that lie. Image
Apr 18 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
🚨UPDATE: New evidence filed by the ACLU last night shows that the Trump administration is going forward with more Alien Enemies Act deportations in seeming violation of the Supreme Court's clear command that people be provided a "meaningful" opportunity to seek judicial review. Image Last night multiple people detained at the Bluebonnet ICE detention center in Texas were handed sheets of paper IN ENGLISH and told by ICE officers that they were required to sign the paper (even if they only spoke Spanish).

These were reportedly "Alien Enemies Act" notices. Image
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Apr 18 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Wow. Diplomatic pressure absolutely worked. Van Hollen got in, met with Mr. Abrego, and becomes the first person to have ANY meeting with any of the people sent to El Salvador on March 15. It's great that Mr. Abrego was able to connect with his wife. Now the question is, how will the U.S. government facilitate his return, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

And we can't forget the other 237 people sent to El Salvador on March 15, like Andry.
Apr 16 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
MAJOR NEWS: Judge Boasberg: “the Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt.” Image Boasberg's full contempt opinion is here. He gives the government two options:

1. Bring back the men deported in violation of his court order; or
2. Give up the names of the officials responsible so he can impose specific sanctions on them.

HUGE news.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Apr 15 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
MAJOR SCOOP: The local detective who first accused Mr. Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-31 was suspended from the police force and indicted merely WEEKS LATER for providing confidential information to a sex worker who he was paying in exchange for sexual acts. Image This explains a big mystery in Mr. Abrego Garcia's case. When his lawyers in 2019 went to interview the detective who claimed a "confidential informant" accused him of being in MS-13, they found out he was suspended.

Now we know why. And it's pretty bad. What’s more, it turns out that Mendez was suspended, in early April of 2019, for “providing information to a commercial sex worker who he was paying in exchange for sexual acts.” That’s according to the PG County police’s own announcement of his indictment, which came a year later, in June of 2020. Strikingly, the information Mendez shared was related to “an on-going police investigation.” “This is clearly not an officer that respects the rules and protocols,” Curiel told us. “If he’s willing to do that, what else is he willing to do?” Mendez ultimately pleaded guilty to the charge and re...
Apr 12 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Hours ago, @politico revealed that DOGE is working with DHS on automating mass deportation efforts — which likely explains why US citizens, green card holders, and Canadians (in Canada) got threatening emails terminating “your parole” and telling them to leave the US in 7 days. Image
Image
Image
Image There’s a big thread of baffled people on Reddit trying to figure out what the emails mean or if they’re real. They include:

- Citizens
- Canadians (living in Canada)
- Green card holders
- DACA recipients

Whatever dataset DOGE used was the wrong one.

reddit.com/r/USCIS/commen…
Apr 11 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Okay, brief thread on what happened today in Mr. Khalil's case, and what comes next.

First, you should know that precedent from 1999 requires an immigration judge to accept Rubio's letter so long as it was "facially reasonable and bona fide." This is a very deferential standard. Today the judge ruled that Secretary Rubio's letter was indeed "facially reasonable and bona fide" making Mr. Khalil "removable." despite having a green card.

Despite the deferential standard, I think that was arguably wrong -- Rubio offered no specifics.
Apr 11 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: The Board of Immigration Appeals has been reduced from 28 members to 15 members, an action which "coincidentally" purges every single Board member appointed during the Biden administration.

This comes as the BIA faces record backlogs — which will now get MUCH worse. Image The full Federal Register notice is here: .

It is an "interim final rule," which means it goes into effect immediately. There is a comment period, though. The RIF of Board members began over a month ago, with many having already been laid off.public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-06294.pdf
Apr 1 • 13 tweets • 6 min read
Vance is badly wrong here. In 2019, a police informant alleged the guy was in MS-13. He spent a year in ICE detention as a result, then won his case. He’s been out for the last five years, married to a U.S. citizen, has two kids, and STILL has no criminal record at all. In 2019, Mr. Abrego was arrested outside a Home Depot, his only criminal arrest.

A cop declared that he was a gang member because he was wearing a Bulls jersey and a "confidential informant" said he was in an MS-13 clique in a state he'd never lived in.
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Apr 1 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Oh my god. They deported a man who an immigration judge had declared was "more likely than not" to face persecution in El Salvador... to El Salvador!

They outright admit it! Yet the Trump admin's response to a court is basically "oops, well, no take backsies." Image This guy is part of the group of alleged MS-13 members sent to El Salvador on March 15.

In 2019, a PG County Police informant alleged he was connect to MS-13. He has only traffic tickets and has apparently been living a quiet life with family since winning protection in 2019. The respondent argues that the Immigration Judge clearly erred in determining that he is a verified member of MS-13 because there is no reliable evidence in the record to support such a finding (Respondent's Br. at 6-9). In this regard, the respondent asserts that a Prince George's County Police Department Gang Field Interview Sheet ("GFIS") is based on hearsay relayed by a confidential source (Exh. 4). The respondent also claims that he presented sufficient evidence to rebut the allegation that he is affiliated with MS-13, including character references and criminal records showi...
Mar 30 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
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
Mar 30 • 11 tweets • 6 min read
NEW: Another documents filed by the ACLU is an unclassified ICE document showing what it alleges are Tren de Aragua tattoos. The @nypost also published these in 2024.

But reverse image search shows these images were stolen from the internet and have nothing to do with TdA! 🧵 Image The "Jump-Man" imagine, which the New York Post claimed "refers to 23 de Enero ... a Venezuelan neighborhood" (it's Michael Jordan's number, guys), was first posted on Twitter in 2015 by a random Michael Jordan fan account. Image
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Mar 30 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: @ACLU obtained ICE's "Alien Enemies Act Validation Guide," confirming all it takes to be sent to rot in prison in El Salvador is 1) having a tattoo an ICE officer says is a "gang tattoo" and 2) displaying "logos," "symbols," or clothes an ICE officer says are gang signs. Image
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Image In order for ICE to declare someone an "Alien Enemy," ICE must first determine they are a Venezuelan over age 14, and then second find 8 points on a scoring guide they made up.

It's 4 points for having alleged gang tattoos and 4 points for displaying gang "logos" or "symbols." Image
Mar 28 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Judge Brinkema UNLOADED on ICE's "evidence" of TdA membership:

"This is a terrible, terrible affidavit. If this were before me in a criminal case and you were asking to get a warrant issued on this, I'd throw you out of my chambers."

This is why due process matters! This is a terrible, terrible affidavit. If this were before me in a criminal case and you were asking to get a warrant issue on this, I'd throw you out of my chambers. No agent should do this type of editorializing, not when people's liberty is at stake. I expect more from the government than this kind of very shoddy work. This is assumptions and putting words in people's mouths. You don't have it here. I was shocked when I saw this. It came in late on Thursday afternoon and I was getting tired at the end of the day and it woke me up. But anyway, you don't have it. It's not here. Here's an example of the "rigorous vetting" of gang membership that the Trump admin claims it's doing:

A woman admitted that her dead ex-husband, who she left 10 years ago, had been a TdA member.

From that — and nothing more! — ICE declared she "is a senior member of the TDA." THE COURT: All right. And it is the sorriest statement I've ever seen. First of all, it's pure hearsay in the sense that it's not any evidence that he himself, as I understand it, directly has. In other words, he did not interrogate either of these two people and hear this directly. His statement is that it was reported to him that this was done. And if you look at the seminal paragraphs in his statement, paragraph 14, this is what he says:
(As read): "Upon arrest, the petitioners were read their Miranda Rights. agreed to speak with the border patrol agents. She stated that she is associated with the TDA terrorist organization. She stated that she was previously married to Mr. , a member of TDA. She stated that she is from the municipality of Aragua, Venezuela, where TDA is based, and she knows members of TDA. She stated that she separated from her ex-husband approximately 10 years ago. She stated that her ex-husband was killed by the Venezuelan government due to his affiliation with TDA. She stated she met after separati...
illegally." Two paragraphs later, paragraph 16, the same apparently investigating agents, draw the conclusion: (As read): is a senior member of the TDA." How do you get from somebody who was married possibly 10 years ago to a TDA gang member, marriage, all of a sudden she's a senior member? This is a terrible, terrible affidavit. If this were before me in a criminal case and you were asking to get a warrant issue on this, I'd throw you out of my chambers.
Mar 27 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW! The Trump administration appears to have sent a married father with NO CRIMINAL RECORD to rot in a prison in El Salvador because of a PAPERWORK ERROR.

This man doesn’t even have tattoos! But his paperwork has two different peoples’ ID numbers listed and the wrong last name! Image More from the article: his family even got evidence from Venezuela proving he has no criminal record in that country either.

This adds yet another case to the growing list of examples of people seemingly sent to rot in prison in El Salvador due to the Trump admin's sloppiness. Image