53 h. ago US government wrongly link British man’s tattoo with Venezuelan gang

A British man was shocked to see a picture of one of his tattoos being used in US government documentation on symbols identifying Venezuelan gang members.

Politics

3 d. ago Homeland security apparently used British man’s tattoo to identify alleged gang members

‘Average man from Derbyshire’ shocked to find photo of tattoo celebrating child’s birth was used to deport migrantsA British man was shocked to discover that a photo of his tattoo was included in a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document used to identify alleged members of a notorious Venezuelan criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA).Earlier this week, 44-year-old Pete Belton, who lives in the English county of Derbyshire, told the BBC that he was stunned to find a photo of his forearm tattoo featured in a DHS document among nine images of tattoos intended to assist in “detecting and identifying” TdA members. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago My arm somehow appeared on a US Department of Homeland Security gang database

The Brit's tattoo - a clock face with the date and time of his daughter's birth - was included in a set of nine pictures for 'detecting and identifying' TdA members.

Events

5 d. ago Was the deportation ruling a win for the Trump administration or immigrants?

The supreme court allowed the wartime law but impeded reliance on deportation without due process – here’s what to knowThe US supreme court may have ruled that the Trump administration could continue using an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members – but it also notably impeded the government’s reliance on summary deportation without due process in such situations.Monday’s emergency ruling lifted a temporary block on the controversial deportations. The legal challenge to the removals had been brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the organization Democracy Forward on behalf of the men deported to El Salvador last month without so much as a court hearing. The organizations argued that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it bypassed immigration laws and ordered their removal under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, or AEA. The US government last invoked the law to detain Japanese, Italian and German nationals durin...

Events

5 d. ago Was the supreme court’s deportation ruling a win for Trump or immigrants?

The justices allowed the wartime law but impeded reliance on deportation without due process – here’s what to knowThe US supreme court may have ruled that the Trump administration could continue using an 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan immigrants it accused of being gang members – but it also notably impeded the government’s reliance on summary deportation without due process in such situations.Monday’s emergency ruling lifted a temporary block on the controversial deportations. The legal challenge to the removals had been brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the organization Democracy Forward on behalf of the men deported to El Salvador last month without so much as a court hearing. The organizations argued that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it bypassed immigration laws and ordered their removal under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, or AEA. The US government last invoked the law to detain Japanese, Italian and German nationals during t...

Events

6 d. ago US supreme court blocks ruling that 16,000 fired federal workers must be rehired

Probationary employees laid off in Trump administration’s purge lose reinstatement in 7-2 ruling over legal standingUS politics live – latest updatesThe US supreme court has handed Donald Trump a reprieve from a judge’s ruling that his administration must rehire 16,000 probationary workers fired in its purge of the federal bureaucracy.A day after ruling in the White House’s favor to allow the continued deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, the court gave the White House a less clear-cut victory in halting the order by a California court that dismissed workers from six government agencies must be rehired. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago DHS claims these tattoos show Venezuelan gang membership. The tattoo artists who did them say the truth is a lot more innocent

‘It’s mind-blowing... a total misrepresentation,’ one British tattoo artist whose work was cited as a symbol of the crime syndicate Tren de Aragua tells Io Dodds

Events

9 d. ago DHS claims these tattoos show Venezuelan gang membership. The tattoo artists who did them are confused

‘It’s mind-blowing... a total misrepresentation,’ one British tattoo artist whose work was cited as a symbol of the crime syndicate Tren de Aragua tells Io Dodds

Events

1 week ago Joe Rogan breaks with Trump, calling Venezuelan deportations ‘horrific’

Influential podcast host and prominent Trump supporter criticizes administration for removal of gay makeup artistJoe Rogan, the influential podcast host and prominent supporter of Donald Trump, has criticized the president’s administration over the deportation of a professional makeup artist and hairdresser to a prison in El Salvador, calling it “horrific”.Andry José Hernández Romero, who is gay, had sought asylum in the US, telling officials he faced persecution because of his sexual orientation and political views. But US immigration officers argued the crown tattoos on his wrists were proof he was part of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang, despite Hernández Romero telling them he was not. Last month, he was flown from Texas to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, a facility that his lawyer said was “one of the worst places in the world”. His removal comes as the administration undertakes what Trump has pledged would be a mass deportation campaign. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Packed off to hell hole prison for Christian tattoos: Gay makeup artist is deported to El Salvador by Trump administration after border agents said his ink looked like a Venezuelan gang symbol

Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, 31, was detained at the Mexico-US border last year when he requested entry to attend a pre-arranged asylum hearing in San Diego, California

Events

2 w. ago Tigers, swimming pools, a nightclub: The gang drawing Trump's ire started in a Venezuelan prison

Tocorón once had it all

Events

2 w. ago Homeland Security Secretary Noem visits the El Salvador prison where deported Venezuelans are held

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is visiting the high-security El Salvador prison where Venezuelans who the Trump administration alleges are members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang have been held since their removal from the U_S_ Noem’s Wednesday trip to the prison where inmates are packed into cells and never allowed outside comes as the Trump administration seeks to show it is deporting people it describes as the “worst of the worst.”

Events

3 w. ago Donald Trump deported sports star to El Salvador after tattoo mistake

Jerce Reyes Barrios, 36, was sent to the Central American country after U.S. authorities misinterpreted a tattoo of his that they thought was linked to a Venezuelan gang

Politics

3 w. ago Judge demands answers from White House on deportation flights to El Salvador

Jeb Boasberg instructs Trump administration to explain how refusal to return flights did not violate court orderA federal judge instructed the Trump administration on Thursday to explain why its failure to turn around flights carrying deportees to El Salvador did not violate his court order in a growing showdown between the judicial and executive branches.James Boasberg, the US district judge, demanded answers after flights carrying Venezuelan immigrants alleged by the Trump administration to be gang members landed in El Salvador after the judge temporarily blocked deportations conducted under an 18th-century wartime law. Boasberg had directed the administration to return planes that were already in the air to the US when he ordered the halt. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Everyday tattoos got Venezuelan men ID'd as gang members and deported, lawyers say

Defense lawyers say some of the roughly 200 Venezuelan men the U.S. deported after accusing them of being gang members were targeted because of their everyday tattoos

Events

3 w. ago White House calls judge challenging Trump deportation order a ‘Democrat activist’

Press secretary says judge who weighed legality of Trump deportation order ‘does not have that authority’The White House on Wednesday labeled the federal judge challenging the Trump administration on whether it defied his court order to halt flights deporting migrants without a hearing “a Democrat activist”.The press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, singled out by name at a White House press briefing federal judge James Boasberg, who weighed the legality of Donald Trump’s deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, and is now evaluating the government’s compliance. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump administration live updates: President ends ban on ‘segregated facilities’ in federal contracts

President admonished by John Roberts after calling for impeachment of district court judge who ruled against him on deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members

Politics

3 w. ago Trump live updates: President promises not to defy judges after rebuke from Supreme Court’s chief justice

President admonished by John Roberts after calling for impeachment of district court judge who ruled against him on deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members

Politics

3 w. ago Trump live updates: President promises not to defy judges after being rebuked by Supreme Court’s chief justice

President admonished by John Roberts after calling for impeachment of district court judge who ruled against him on deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members

Politics

3 w. ago ‘He’s in an abyss’: Family members say innocents swept up in Trump crackdown on Venezuelan migrant gang

Ongoing lawsuit is challenging administration’s use of emergency wartime law to deport Venezuelans without due process

Events