El Salvador received 238 deported immigrants, including Venezuelans associated with the gang Tren de Aragua and MS-13, at the Terrorism Confinement Center, otherwise known as CECOT. All prisoners will stay there for a minimum of one year.
However, there are questions about how these deportees were determined to be gang-affiliated. One deportee, Jerce Reyes Barrios, claims not to have any association with TDA. His lawyers, who said they have lost contact with him since he entered CECOT, allege the case against their client relies entirely on a tattoo he has that resembles a gang tattoo. Another deportee, known simply as Andrys, reportedly denied any gang affiliation during his intake at CECOT.
“Jerce Reyes Barrios was not only in the United States illegally, but he has tattoos that are consistent with those indicating TdA gang membership. His own social media indicates he is a member of the vicious TdA gang. That all said, DHS intelligence assessments go beyond a single tattoo and we are confident in our findings,” Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in response to a post on X that made the allegations.
“No. DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos,” McLaughlin responded to another post about Andrys. “This man’s own social media indicates he is a member of Tren de Aragua.”
The Washington Examiner could not confirm either person’s social media presence. However, both accounts have likely been scrubbed, as Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has a policy against gang-affiliated content.
“There is no place on our platform for groups or individuals that promote violence, organized crime, hate or terrorism,” Meta wrote in a statement. “Over years of work we have developed, and continue to develop, Dangerous Individual and Organizations (DOI) policies and processes to address this type of content.”
TOM HOMAN DISMISSES IDEA THAT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WERE WRONGLY CLASSIFIED AND DEPORTED
Both Tren de Aragua and MS-13 were labeled as terrorist organizations by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
ICE officials confirmed that these immigrants were deported under Code Title 8, which allows federal authorities to quickly remove certain migrants who cross into the country illegally. They were also deported under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows the president to remove migrants immediately if they come from invading countries in times of war.
