Immigrant Detainees Sound Alarm About Trump Administration Deporting Them

Lawyers for a group of Venezuelan immigrants detained at Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, filed emergency habeas petitions on Friday after reports from inside the prison indicated the Trump administration was about to remove them, potentially to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador.

The undocumented Venezuelan immigrants held at Bluebonnet were given documents telling them they would be deported and pressured to sign forms affirming their alleged membership in the gang Tren de Aragua, according to a legal filing asking a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas to block their removals.

The to claim membership in Tren de Aragua as it has in its prior removals. These include tattoos, clothing, social media posts and, in a new revelation, the use of emojis.

W.M.M., who is listed on the habeas application with A.A.R.P., “fled Venezuela after the Venezuelan military harassed and assaulted him because they believed that he did not support the Maduro regime,” according to his habeas petition.

“At his hearing on the warrant, the government alleged that W.M.M. is affiliated with TdA based on emojis used in W.M.M.’s social media feed, and a comment left by another individual on a social media post,” the petition states.

The government also alleges that W.M.M. is a gang member because he was arrested at a residence with another alleged Tren de Aragua member, although he was never charged with a crime.

Another detainee, Y.S.M., a 19-year-old Venezuelan detained with his father, was labeled a member of Tren de Aragua by the government because a photograph posted to Facebook showed him with another person holding a gun. The gun, however, “was in fact a water pistol,” a declaration from Y.S.M.’s lawyer states.

The government claims that A.A.R.P., who similarly fled Venezuela after he was “persecuted there” for his “political beliefs and for publicly protesting against the current Venezuelan government,” is a Tren de Aragua member due to tattoos, including “a clock that shows the date and time of his son’s birth, a cross, and the Virgin Mary.”

Just 10% of the 238 immigrants sent to CECOT on March 15 were found to have serious criminal charges, like assault, illegal possession of a firearm, or theft, against them, a report by Bloomberg found. The rest were simply cited for immigration or traffic violations.

District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, ordered the government to respond to Friday’s petition by April 23. On Thursday, Hendrix denied the petitioners’ request for a temporary restraining order preventing their removal under the Alien Enemies Act before their habeas petitions can be heard by stating that the government claims they are not at “imminent risk of summary removal.”

Since Hendrix did not authorize an immediate temporary restraining order, lawyers representing the Venezuelan detainees petitioned D.C. District Judge James Boasberg, who has been overseeing a separate, but similar case, late Friday afternoon to intervene and issue a restraining order requiring the government give 30 days notice to find lawyers and file habeas petitions before removing anyone under the Alien Enemies Act from the country.