In a not-so-different world, the Venezuelan men we recently interviewed might have already disappeared into an infamous Salvadoran prison. Instead, they called us from a rural Texas detention center.
The six Venezuelans at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility we spoke with explained that they started receiving a one-page notice—written only in English—on the evening of April 17. The document informed them that they would be removed from the country under the Alien Enemies Act on the grounds that they were members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua.
All of the men vigorously disputed the allegation that they are affiliated with Tren de Aragua, and their relatives provided extensive evidence to support their claims. But ICE provided them with no information about how to contest the allegations. Instead, one day later, the agency loaded roughly 60 Venezuelans onto a bus and a van headed toward the Abilene Regional Airport.
They feared that they were headed to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s Terrorism Confinement Center, the prison the Trump administration sent more than 200 Venezuelans to in mid-March. (None of those men have been heard from since.)
But unlike their countrymen, the Venezuelans at Bluebonnet were ultimately never put on a plane. Instead, the convoy turned back around to the detention center. A frantic legal effort by the ACLU that went all the way to the Supreme Court appears to have saved them at the last minute.
The investigation Mother Jones published on Wednesday makes clear that the Trump administration is largely ignoring a recent Supreme Court order that mandates Venezuelans targeted under the Alien Enemies Act be given “reasonable time” and opportunity to challenge their removal. It also provides a rare firsthand look at how the Trump administration continues to deprive immigrants of due process based on flimsy evidence like tattoos that appear to have nothing to do with any gang.
Read their story.
—Isabela Dias and Noah Lanard
