ICE claims tattoos tie migrants to the Tren de Aragua gang. Specialists say they are not dependable identifiers.

Tattoos of crowns, a clock and different symbols have been utilized by the Trump administration to allege Venezuelan males deported from the U.S. are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. However specialists and police in a Colorado metropolis who’ve investigated the gang say tattoos aren’t dependable markers of affiliation.

The administration alleges the deportees it despatched to El Salvador’s infamous most safety jail are gang members, largely with Tren de Aragua, and a few with MS-13. It has additionally acknowledged that “many” of them haven’t any prison data.

President Trump invoked the 1798 wartime Alien Enemies Act, claiming Tren de Aragua is invading america, to deport lots of the males. The administration additionally declared Tren de Aragua a terrorist group. 

Court docket paperwork, attorneys and relations of a few of the migrants have stated their tattoos have been causes they have been decided to be alleged Tren de Aragua members.

The spouse of Franco Jose Caraballo, a barber from Venezuela with no prison file, stated officers saved asking questions on his tattoo of a pocket watch that marks the time of their daughter’s beginning. 

A lawyer for Caraballo says he isn’t a gang member and his spouse stated he’s harmless when requested what worries her about his detention within the Salvadoran jail.

One other man, Andry José Hernández Romero, has crown tattoos over the phrases “Mother” and “Dad.” Hernández Romero is a make-up artist who identifies as homosexual. He confronted discrimination and threats in Venezuela due to his sexual orientation and political opinions and was in search of asylum within the U.S., his lawyer stated in a courtroom submitting.

A questionnaire, utilized in correctional amenities to evaluate potential gang affiliation, seems to point out that Hernández Romero’s tattoos have been the one foundation to allegedly join him to Tren de Aragua. 

“The crown has been discovered to be an identifier for a Tren de Aragua gang member,” an officer wrote within the submitting.

Many specialists disagree that tattoos can establish members of the gang.

“Professional after skilled tells us tattoos are usually not a dependable indicator of whether or not you are a part of this specific gang,” Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who’s main the authorized problem in opposition to the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, informed 60 Minutes.

Rebecca Hanson, an assistant professor of sociology and criminology on the College of Florida, wrote in a courtroom submitting for the case that there are not any tattoos, symbols or hand gestures related to the group.

“The TdA, and gangs extra typically in Venezuela, shouldn’t have a historical past of utilizing tattoos to point membership,” she stated. “TdA members might, in fact, have tattoos, however this isn’t a part of a collective id.”

In Aurora, Colorado, which Mr. Trump has claimed is a “struggle zone” overrun by the Tren de Aragua, Police Chief Todd Chamberlain stated it’s extremely tough to establish Tren de Aragua members. 

Chamberlain stated he wouldn’t describe town as a “struggle zone,” however stated Aurora has been “floor zero” for the gang’s actions. Town noticed organized violent crime concentrated in three residence complexes, certainly one of which is now shuttered. 

The Aurora Police Division possible has the very best understanding of the Tren de Aragua gang of any U.S. legislation enforcement company, he stated. 

“It is not like MS-13, it is not like a Crip or a Blood,” he stated. “Should you return to gangs within the early ’80s or the ’90s once more, the best way they walked, the best way they talked, what they wore, they’d very apparent indicators.”

However Tren de Aragua doesn’t, he stated.

Moderately than specializing in making an attempt to establish gang members, Chamberlain stated his division has targeted on prison exercise. 

“For us, it wasn’t about what gang they have been concerned in. It is about what prison exercise they have been concerned in, and we knew that there was prison exercise,” he stated. “If we might join it to TdA as we have been evolving this course of, that is nice.”

Chamberlain stated his division counted a complete of 9 confirmed Tren de Aragua members who handed by means of Aurora within the final two years.

Jeanette Rodriguez, who serves as a liaison between native legislation enforcement and the Venezuelan migrant neighborhood in Aurora, stated Tren de Aragua members do not flaunt apparent indicators of gang membership.

“Should you examine it to love MS-13, they’re very happy with who they’re, and they’d tattoo them on their faces, and are very happy with who they’re. Tren de Aragua, they know the worth of laying low,” she stated.

Hanson famous that the Trump administration’s partial reliance on tattoos to conclude migrants are members of Tren de Aragua “seems to end result from an incorrect conflation of gang practices in Central America and Venezuela.” 

It is completely different than in El Salvador and Honduras, the place “gangs have lengthy used tattoos to point membership and id,” she stated. 

At CECOT, the El Salvador jail, lots of the inmates have distinguished tattoos. One, Marvin Vazquez, who’s an MS-13 member, stated “you gotta kill” to get a tattoo just like the “MS” ones he confirmed on his chest and stomach. 

Vazquez was arrested in El Salvador after the federal government declared struggle on the gangs in 2022.

Gustavo Villatoro, El Salvador’s minister of justice and public safety, stated tattoos are a method the federal government identifies gang members. He stated not all of the prisoners in CECOT have been convicted of crimes.

High White Home officers have argued the Trump administration doesn’t must comply with due course of to take away people from the U.S. underneath the Alien Enemies Act. Nonetheless, on Monday, April 7, the Supreme Court docket stated detainees should obtain discover that they’re topic to elimination underneath the legislation and have to be allowed to problem their detention.

Requested if he was nervous some migrants have been incorrectly recognized as gang members, Mr. Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan stated he isn’t. 

“I will belief the women and men at ICE,” Homan stated. “I have been assured quite a few occasions that everyone in that airplane from Venezuela was a TdA member. The remainder of ’em have been MS-13.”

Homan stated the federal government didn’t rely simply on tattoos, however wouldn’t share proof to show the deportees are gang members. 

And in circumstances like these of Caraballo and Hernández Romero, it is unclear what different foundation was used to allege they’re Tren de Aragua members.