The Trump administration is deporting immigrants with ZERO CRIMINAL RECORD or proof of gang ties to hard-labor prisons in El Salvador.
Relatives of recently deported Venezuelan immigrants said they were anguished and shocked to discover their loved ones were sent to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador after they recognized them in a social media video.
The families strongly deny that their relatives are connected to the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, a claim the Trump administration has used to justify their quick deportations under a rarely used law from 1798, the Alien Enemies Act. They say their family members have been falsely accused and targeted because of their tattoos.
The families also said they never expected their loved ones to be sent to a massive prison in El Salvador instead of their home country, Venezuela.
The White House said in a statement Tuesday that it was “confident in DHS intelligence assessments on these gang affiliations and criminality,” adding that the Venezuelan immigrants who were removed from the United States had final orders of deportation.
The men were sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, a lockup known for allegations of human rights abuses. Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented issues including extreme overcrowding and torture.
Speaking to Lauris Wren from Michigan, “Except from my immigration attorney colleagues, I have seen few people posting about Trump arresting hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants and – without any hearing or any of the process that the law mandates or any checks at all to see if mistakes were being made – sending them to be imprisoned indefinitely and tortured in a hideous prison in El Salvador. Trump accused the immigrants of being gang members, but many of them seem to have NO links to gangs, nor had they ever been arrested in the US or Venezuela.
We do not know if all of the immigrants were asylum seekers (which is not a crime), or if some were green card holders – or even if any were US citizens. They were never brought before a judge so no one was able to check. Maybe, if you are white, it doesn’t scare you to think about this, because you think this won’t happen to you. But, if you are okay with the government grabbing hundreds of people, never allowing them to see a judge, and then sending them to a prison in El Salvador or some other random country to be tortured, our democracy is gone and there is something terribly wrong with us. And once we allow the government the freedom to torture and disappear people and to absolutely ignore and destroy our laws, any one of us could be the next victim. It’s completely lawless behavior and must be reversed immediately.”
Trump took a soccer player and kids soccer coach and sent him to a maximum security torture prison in El Salvador without due process. Jerce Reyes Barrios had no criminal record in Venezuela or the US. He legally applied for asylum in the US after he was tortured by the Venezuelan government for participating in pro-democracy protests. He had court dates scheduled in the US to hear his asylum claim. He played by the rule. Now, without due process, we are paying the Salvadoran government to torture him. He is not the only one. Of the 250 immigrants that were sent to the prison last week against court orders, at least 5 have been identified by friends and family as having no criminal background and no gang ties. Several followed the legal asylum process and were punished for it.
1798 War Powers Act (Alien Enemies) is being ENACTED by Donald Trump, ILLEGALLY. This gives Trump more powers to ROUND UP ILLEGAL AND LEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
Venezuela has NOT DECLARED WAR.. THIS IS AN ILLEGAL DECLARATION OF WAR.
#TRUMPMUSTBESTOPPED
#HUMANITYFIRST
#PEACEFOREVERYONE
#ANTIFASCISTKENYA
