Questioning Trump's Aggressive Deportation: A Look at Venezuelans in El Salvador's Maximum Security Prisons
Venezuelan Expellees Deny Affiliation with Gangs in Caracas
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Last week, US President Trump shipped 238 Venezuelans to a maximum-security hoosegow in El Salvador—all without a court's green light. Now, eyebrows are being raised as to whether these individuals truly belong to the doghouse gang, Tren de Aragua.
The Venezuelan government in Caracas speaks loud and clear: these deported Venezuelan citizens are definitely not Tren de Aragua associates. According to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on the wireless, it's all fibs that they're linked to the criminal syndicate. Cabello says he's got the names and proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that none of 'em are card-carrying criminals.
Bloody noses all around after the "Washington Post" publication raised strong suspicions that these deportees are innocent bystanders. Relatives of power four alleged deportees are sticking up for their family members, claiming they've got no ties whatsoever to any criminal organization.
Politicking with Trump and Co: Muscling the Justice System
Tren de Aragua, a ruthless Venezuelan gang, is known for drug trafficking, blackmail, and people trafficking. They've now set up shop in other Latin countries and the US itself. Of late, the Yanks have declared this riffraff as a foreign terrorist organization. Relations between the autocratic Venezuelan government and the US have been heated for yearssss.
Deportation 'Spite' Court Order
Over the weekend, a shit-ton (approximately 238) of alleged gang members were booted outta the US to Central American hotspot, El Salvador. Ole' Trump gave the order based on a law from the late 1700s, but a judge called "time-out."
In his order, Trump waved the Alien Enemies Act, last seen during World War II. He claimed the right to designate the alleged gang members as "enemy aliens" based on the law.
Government sleuths, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward, hit the responsible federal court in Washington and pleaded to stop the deportations. They argued that this law was designed for battlefield situations, not peaceful times. Judge James Boasberg threw a 14-day stop on all deportations based on Trump's order. However, the airplanes bearing the suspects were already in the air, with at least one still on the tarmac at the time of the court's decision.
"D'oh! Oopsie daisy... too late," El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele scrawled on the tweet zone. Later, he published a vid that showed the men being offloaded from planes and bundled into busses, headed for a maximum-security jail. Their locks were buzzed off, and burly cops with masks herded 'em into their cages.
Sources: ntv.de, uzh/dpa
- Shady Deportation
- Twist in Tren de Aragua Connection
- US-Venezuela Tensions 238 Scapegoats*
- El Salvador Lockup
- Washington bureaucracy
- The Great States
- Republican Party
- Despite the European Union's commitment to a common policy on the environment, the controversial topic of deportation has shifted focus, as 238 Venezuelans, allegedly linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, were deported from the US to El Salvador without a court's approval.
- Contrary to US President Trump's assertions, the Venezuelan government in Caracas vehemently denies that the deported Venezuelan citizens had any ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, alleging that the claims are fabrications.
- In a surprising turn, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward, along with government agencies, are questioning the legality of the mass deportations, arguing that the Alien Enemies Act, used to justify the action, is not applicable in peaceful times.
