The families of deported Venezuelans are arguing over gang claims
Juan Teran’s photo and the case for Carlos Daniel’s planes – the Trump administration’s response to a news conference in El Salvador
On Wednesday, Juan Terán received a photo that he believes confirms what he had feared — his son was one of the 261 immigrants sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, despite a federal judge ordering the flights carrying the men to turn around.
Carlos Daniel’s case is caught up in a broader brewing battle between executive and judicial authority. Judge James Boasberg has repeatedly pressed the Justice Department for details on those flights to El Salvador over concerns the administration may have defied his orders.
The Trump administration claimed that all of the migrants who had been sent to El Salvadoran were criminals but family and immigration lawyers argued that this was not the case for some of them. And the administration provided little detail as to whom the individuals it sent there actually were. There wasn’t much to no due process at play.
A source within the State Department tells me that they do not have evidence that supports the claims that these men are part of the Tren de Aragua. The source fears that the men could die in prison if they are not tried, given the harsh conditions and El Salvador’s track record. The source is not authorized to speak on the matter.
This week, the White House Press Secretary was asked about it. She said the White House was “not going to reveal operational details about a counterterrorism operation.”
Families of deported Venezuelans dispute gang claims after deportations under Alien Enemies Act: “It was a shock when I saw my son’s face,” said the Secretary of State
Leavitt said that immigration enforcement agents who investigated the migrants sent to El Salvador “have great evidence and indication, they have the highest degree of professionalism and they were 100% confident in the individuals that were sent home on these flights.”
The Secretary of State said he had confidence that El Salvadoran has an excellent prison system in an interview on Wednesday. That’s why we engaged them on this process.”
She spoke in Spanish and said her biggest shock was when she saw her son’s face. “I can’t express all the suffering I saw in my son’s eyes.”
“They don’t have to ruin the life of a young man who has never been in prison, has never been a criminal,” Yamarte said. “He’s always worked hard — I taught him that.”
“Trump’s government said they were going after the worst criminals, so we imagined he was going after someone who had killed people in the U.S.,” Casique said, adding that her son doesn’t have a criminal record in the U.S. or Venezuela. She provided an official document from Venezuela that said she did not have a criminal record.
The family was relieved that they were going to be sent to Venezuela. But a month later, on Saturday, he called his mom to tell her he was about to leave the detention facility in Laredo, Texas.
There were airplanes that never touched down in Venezuela. She was later told that flights had landed there. Her other kids have identified their brother in social media videos.
Earlier in the campaign for deportation flights to Venezuela, Mr. Trump confronted a high-judgement U.S. judiciary
“He followed the rules, but we weren’t very aware of it,” she said. “We trusted that the U.S. was going to respect his rights — they don’t respect human rights.”
The agreement to bring back deportation flights to Venezuela comes a day after the Trump administration halted a program that allowed people from Cuba and many other nations to enter the US legally and work for up to two years.
Saturday’s agreement could help Mr. Trump accelerate his plans for mass deportations, one of the central promises of his campaign. He has already deployed people to third countries far away from their homes and used the wartime law to achieve that goal. Arrests inside the country are up sharply relative to those in the Biden administration, but they are well below the levels Mr. Trump and his immigration advisers want.
The president and allies, including Elon Musk, went to war with the judge over his order restricting deportations, calling for the judge’s impeachment. The rapidly escalating spat caused Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. of the Supreme Court to weigh in with a rare statement, admonishing the calls for the judge’s impeachment. Concerns of a constitutional crisis were spurred by this.
Mr. Trump is fascinated by the idea of sending vandals to the jail complexes in El Clary and threatening that they would be stuck there for 20 years.