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The Trump administration knew that the overwhelming majority of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants it despatched to a maximum-security jail in El Salvador in mid-March had not been convicted of crimes in the USA earlier than it labeled them as terrorists and deported them, based on U.S. Division of Homeland Safety information that has not been beforehand reported.
President Donald Trump and his aides have branded the Venezuelans as “rapists,” “savages,” “monsters” and “the worst of the worst.” When a number of information organizations disputed these assertions with reporting that confirmed lots of the deportees didn’t have felony information, the administration doubled down. It stated that its evaluation of the deportees was based mostly on an intensive vetting course of that included taking a look at crimes dedicated each inside and outdoors the USA. However the authorities’s personal information, which was obtained by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and a workforce of journalists from Venezuela, confirmed that officers knew that solely 32 of the deportees had been convicted of U.S. crimes and that the majority had been nonviolent offenses, reminiscent of retail theft or visitors violations.
The information signifies that the federal government knew that solely six of the immigrants had been convicted of violent crimes: 4 for assault, one for kidnapping and one for a weapons offense. And it reveals that officers had been conscious that greater than half, or 130, of the deportees weren’t labeled as having any felony convictions or pending prices; they had been labeled as solely having violated immigration legal guidelines.
As for overseas offenses, our personal overview of courtroom and police information from round the USA and in Latin American nations the place the deportees had lived discovered proof of arrests or convictions for 20 of the 238 males. Of these, 11 concerned violent crimes reminiscent of armed theft, assault or homicide, together with one man who the Chilean authorities had requested the U.S. to extradite to face kidnapping and drug prices there. One other 4 had been accused of unlawful gun possession.
We performed a case-by-case overview of all of the Venezuelan deportees. It’s doable there are crimes and different info within the deportees’ backgrounds that didn’t present up in our reporting or the inner authorities information, which incorporates solely minimal particulars for 9 of the lads. There’s no single publicly out there database for all crimes dedicated within the U.S., a lot much less overseas. However all the pieces we did discover in public information contradicted the Trump administration’s assertions as nicely.
ProPublica and the Tribune, together with Venezuelan media shops Cazadores de Pretend Information (Pretend Information Hunters) and Alianza Rebelde Investiga (Insurgent Alliance Investigates), additionally obtained lists of alleged gang members which can be saved by Venezuelan regulation enforcement officers and the worldwide regulation enforcement company Interpol. These lists embody some 1,400 names. Not one of the names of the 238 Venezuelan deportees matched these on the lists.
The hasty removing of the Venezuelans and their incarceration in a 3rd nation has made this one of the consequential deportations in latest historical past. The courtroom battles over whether or not Trump has the authority to expel immigrants with out judicial overview have the potential to upend how this nation handles all immigrants dwelling within the U.S., whether or not legally or illegally. Officers have instructed publicly that, to realize the president’s targets of deporting tens of millions of immigrants, the administration was contemplating suspending habeas corpus, the longstanding constitutional proper permitting individuals to problem their detention.
Hours earlier than the immigrants had been loaded onto airplanes in Texas for deportation, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, declaring that the Tren de Aragua jail gang had invaded the USA, aided by the Venezuelan authorities. It branded the gang a overseas terrorist group and stated that declaration gave the president the authority to expel its members and ship them indefinitely to a overseas jail, the place they’ve remained for greater than two months with no means to speak with their households or legal professionals.
Lee Gelernt, the lead legal professional within the American Civil Liberties Union’s authorized combat towards the deportations, stated the removals amounted to a “blatant violation of essentially the most elementary due course of rules.” He stated that beneath the regulation, an immigrant who has dedicated against the law could be prosecuted and eliminated, however “it doesn’t imply they are often subjected to a doubtlessly lifetime sentence in a overseas gulag.”
White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated in response to our findings that “ProPublica needs to be embarrassed that they’re doing the bidding of felony unlawful aliens who’re a risk,” including that “the American individuals strongly assist” the president’s immigration agenda.
When requested concerning the variations between the administration’s public statements concerning the deportees and the way in which they’re labeled in authorities information, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin largely repeated earlier public statements. She insisted, with out offering proof, that the deportees had been harmful, saying, “These people categorized as ‘non-criminals’ are literally terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members and extra — they only don’t have a rap sheet within the U.S.”
As for the administration’s allegations that Tren de Aragua has tried an invasion, an evaluation by U.S. intelligence officers concluded that the gang was not appearing on the path of the Venezuelan authorities of Nicolás Maduro and that stories suggesting in any other case had been “not credible.” Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of nationwide intelligence, fired the report’s authors after it turned public. Her workplace, based on information stories, stated Gabbard was attempting to “finish the weaponization and politicization” of the intelligence neighborhood.
Our investigation centered on the 238 Venezuelan males who had been deported on March 15 to CECOT, the jail in El Salvador, and whose names had been on a listing first printed by CBS Information. The federal government has additionally despatched a number of dozen different immigrants there, together with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who the federal government admitted was despatched there in error. Courts have dominated that the administration ought to facilitate his return to the U.S.
We interviewed about 100 of the deportees’ kin and their attorneys. Lots of them had heard from their family members on the morning of March 15, when the lads believed they had been being despatched again to Venezuela. They had been completely happy as a result of they might be again house with their households, who had been keen to arrange their favourite meals and plan events. A number of the kin shared video messages with us and on social media that had been recorded inside U.S. detention amenities. In these movies, the detainees stated they had been afraid that they is likely to be despatched to Guantanamo, a U.S. facility on Cuban soil the place Washington has held and tortured detainees, together with a quantity that it suspected of plotting the 9/11 terrorist assaults. The Trump administration had despatched planes carrying Venezuelan immigrants there earlier this 12 months.
That they had no concept they had been being despatched to El Salvador.
Amongst them was 31-year-old Leonardo José Colmenares Solórzano, who left Venezuela and his job as a youth soccer coach final July. His sister, Leidys Trejo Solórzano, stated he had a tough time supporting himself and his mom and that Venezuela’s crumbling financial system made it onerous for him to discover a higher paying job. Colmenares was detained at an appointment to method the U.S.-Mexico border in October due to his many tattoos, his sister stated. These tattoos embody the names of kin, a clock, an owl and a crown she stated was impressed by the Actual Madrid soccer membership’s emblem.
Credit score:
Adriana Loureiro Fernández for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune
Colmenares was not flagged as having a felony historical past within the DHS information we obtained. Nor did we discover any U.S. or overseas convictions or prices in our overview. Trejo stated her brother stayed out of hassle and has no felony file in Venezuela both. She described his expulsion as a U.S.-government-sponsored kidnapping.
“It’s been so troublesome. Even speaking about what occurred is tough for me,” stated Trejo, who has scoured the web for movies and images of her brother within the Salvadoran jail. “Many nights I can’t sleep as a result of I’m so anxious.”
The interior authorities information reveals that officers had labeled all however a handful of the lads as members of Tren de Aragua however supplied little details about how they got here to that conclusion. Courtroom filings and paperwork we obtained present the federal government has relied partially on social media posts, affiliations with recognized gang members and tattoos, together with crowns, clocks, weapons, grenades and Michael Jordan’s “Jumpman” emblem. We discovered that no less than 158 of the Venezuelans imprisoned in El Salvador have tattoos. However regulation enforcement sources within the U.S., Colombia, Chile and Venezuela with experience within the Tren de Aragua informed us that tattoos should not an indicator of gang membership.
McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson, stated the company is assured in its assessments of gang affiliation however wouldn’t present extra info to assist them.
John Sandweg, a former appearing director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stated, “for political causes, I feel the administration desires to characterize this as a grand effort that’s selling public security of the USA.” However “even among the authorities’s personal information demonstrates there’s a hole between the rhetoric and the truth,” he stated, referring to the inner information we obtained.
The federal government information reveals 67 males who had been deported had been flagged as having pending prices, although it gives no particulars about their alleged crimes. We discovered police, courtroom and different information for 38 of these deportees. We discovered a number of individuals whose felony historical past differed from what was tagged within the authorities information. In some instances that the federal government listed as pending felony prices, the lads had been convicted and in a single case the cost had been dropped earlier than the person was deported.
Our reporting discovered that, just like the felony convictions, nearly all of the pending prices concerned nonviolent crimes, together with retail theft, drug possession and visitors offenses.
Six of the lads had pending prices for tried homicide, assault, armed theft, gun possession or home battery. Immigrant advocates have stated eradicating individuals to a jail in El Salvador earlier than the instances towards them had been resolved signifies that Trump, asserting his govt authority, short-circuited the felony justice system.
Take the case of Wilker Miguel Gutiérrez Sierra, 23, who was arrested in February 2024 in Chicago on prices of tried homicide, theft and aggravated battery after he and three different Venezuelan males allegedly assaulted a stranger on a practice and stole his telephone and $400. He pleaded not responsible. Gutiérrez was on digital monitoring as he awaited trial when he was arrested by ICE brokers who’d pulled as much as him on the road in 5 black vehicles, courtroom information present. Three days later he was shipped to El Salvador.
However the majority of males labeled as having pending instances had been dealing with much less severe prices, based on the information we discovered. Maikol Gabriel López Lizano, 23, was arrested in Chicago in August 2023 on misdemeanor prices for using his bike on the sidewalk whereas consuming a can of Budweiser. His companion, Cherry Flores, described his deportation as a gross injustice. “They shouldn’t have despatched him there,” she stated. “Why did they need to take him over a beer?”
Jeff Ernsthausen of ProPublica contributed information evaluation. Adriana Núñez and Carlos Centeno contributed reporting.
