“Men languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations.”
The Trump administration deported over 230 Venezuelan men to El Salvador’s maximum-security CECOT prison on March 15, 2025, accusing them of Tren de Aragua gang membership. Most had entered legally through the CBP One app. Nearly half were deported while their asylum cases were still pending. At least nine had been granted temporary protected status. The “evidence” of gang affiliation was that 163 of them had tattoos, which law enforcement experts confirmed proves nothing. A federal judge called the proceedings unconstitutional. The administration’s own spokesperson admitted the men lacked U.S. criminal convictions while still insisting they were “far from innocent.” That’s the whole game. Skip the trial, ship them to a foreign prison, and dare the courts to do something about it.