Slate reports:

After the Trump administration rounded up hundreds of Venezuelan migrants around the country—without notice or court hearings—and sent them off to a prison in El Salvador, we’re finally getting details on who was deported and why. And the more we learn, the more obvious it becomes why the government is so eager to expel these individuals without any semblance of due process. It claims that these men are terrorists by virtue of their alleged membership in the Tren de Aragua gang—but evidence of this affiliation is weak to the point of nonexistence.

Consider Jerce Reyes Barrios, one victim of the deportations: a professional soccer player who had fled Venezuela after protesting against dictator Nicolás Maduro and was living peacefully in the U.S. until the government snatched him up and deported him to El Salvador. Linette Tobin, Barrios’ attorney, submitted a declaration in federal court that detailed the disturbing reasons why her client was targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After entering the U.S. last year, Barrios was scheduled to have an asylum hearing in April. But on Saturday, he was arrested and held at a San Diego detention facility after ICE agents accused him of being a member of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that President Donald Trump has been fixated on to fulfill his mass-deportation plan.

ICE’s accusations were based on two things. First, Barrios has a tattoo on his arm of a crown sitting atop a soccer ball that, federal immigration authorities allege, “is proof of gang membership.” In reality, Tobin wrote, the tattoo was inspired by the Real Madrid soccer team, which is also circular in shape and features a crown. Second, Barrios posted a photo of himself on social media in which he’s gesturing with both hands, with his middle fingers down. This, federal agents claimed, was also proof of gang membership—except that Barrios’ hand gesture actually means “I love you” in sign language and is also commonly used as a symbol of rock ’n’ roll.

This implausible misinterpretation of benign tattoos is a common theme across migrants caught up in this unlawful scheme. ICE alleged that another individual, known as E.V., was a member of Tren de Aragua based on his tattoos—which feature “anime, flowers, and animals,” as well as a crown of thorns. Agents reportedly believed that the crown indicates gang membership. But as his lawyer explained, it is in fact “a tribute to his grandmother,” whose “date of death appears at the base of the crown.”

Others faced similarly baseless accusations. One migrant, known as J.A.B.V., has tattoos of “a Rose, a Clock and a Crown with his son’s name on it,” none of which indicates gang membership. Like many of these men, he has never been arrested, charged, or convicted of a crime in Venezuela or the United States. But ICE agents said that tattoos were proof of Tren de Aragua membership and deported him. Another migrant, L.G., “has three tattoos: one is a rosary, the other is his partner’s name, and the third is a rose and a clock.” None have any connection to a gang, but ICE accused him of gang membership anyway. It made the same claim about Anyelo Jose Sarabia because he has tattoos of a Bible verse and a rose with money as petals. And about Franco Caraballo because of a tattoo celebrating his daughter. The list goes on.

Adding insult to injury, many of these migrants came to the U.S. seeking refuge from Tren de Aragua, only to then be accused of membership in that very gang. [Continue reading…]

The New York Times reports:

Trump administration lawyers have determined that an 18th-century wartime law the president has invoked to deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang allows federal agents to enter homes without a warrant, according to people familiar with internal discussions.

The disclosure reflects the Trump administration’s aggressive view of presidential power, including setting aside a key provision of the Fourth Amendment that requires a court order to search someone’s home.

It remains unclear whether the administration will apply the law in this way, but experts say such an interpretation would infringe on basic civil liberties and raise the potential for misuse. Warrantless entries have some precedent in America’s wartime history, but invoking the law in peacetime to pursue undocumented immigrants in such a way would be an entirely new application, they added.

“It undermines fundamental protections that are recognized in the Fourth Amendment, and in the due process clause,” said Christopher Slobogin, a law professor at Vanderbilt University. [Continue reading…]