MIGRANTS, REGARDLESS OF STATUS,
DEPORTED IN ILLEGAL ICE RAIDS
By AFP
Moisés ÁVILA
Franco Caraballo was arrested while at a US immigration center for an appointment. Shirly Guardado was detained while at work. Camila Munoz was taken into custody on her way home from her honeymoon.
US President Donald Trump’s hunt for migrants to expel from the country is sparing no one. And while the government claims only criminals are being targeted, many of those in the crosshairs tell a different story.
At a checkpoint in Texas, immigration agents stopped an undocumented Mexican couple on their way to a Houston hospital for their 10-year-old daughter’s cancer treatment.
The family was deported, separating the parents from their children, five of whom are US citizens, rights group Texas Civil Rights Project said.
“We had to decide between being separated from our children or being deported together,” the children’s mother told the rights group.
“Now we are in Mexico without access to the urgent medical care our daughter needs,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), the Trump administration detained 32,809 migrants in its first 50 days in office, almost half of whom were convicted criminals.
Last weekend it deported more than 200 to a prison in El Salvador, invoking the rarely used 1798 Alien Enemies Act and accusing most of the deportees of belonging to the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang.
– Deported over tattoos –
Not all who were deported appear to be gang members, however.
Franco Caraballo, a 26-year-old Venezuelan barber who has been in asylum proceedings since 2023, went to an appointment at the ICE office in Dallas, Texas, in February.
He did not come out.
“I haven’t done anything, I’m a good person,” he told his wife Johanny Sanchez over the phone.
Caraballo told her that officers put him in a red uniform meant to identify migrants classified as “dangerous.”
Lacking resources in his absence, she has had to sleep in her car.
“My lawyer spoke with ICE and they told him that Franco was deported (to El Salvador), that he had no criminal record but that they suspect he was a member of Tren de Aragua because of his tattoos,” Johanny Sanchez said.
Caraballo, she said, has two tattoos: one of a clock showing his first daughter’s birth time, and one of a rose.
Venezuelan Mervin Yamarte, 29, was recognized by family members in Dallas in a video released by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele showing the arrival of deportees from the United States.
Arrested a week earlier, Yamarte worked as a mechanic and played soccer with jersey number 99. That number, his family said, was tattooed on his hand.
Jhon Chacin, a 35-year-old Venezuelan tattoo artist, formally surrendered upon his arrival at the border in October 2024, during former president Joe Biden’s tenure.
He was detained because of his tattoos.
Now, the Trump administration has sent him to El Salvador, despite having presented no evidence against him, his sister Yuliana told AFP.
– ‘In shock’ –
Camila Munoz, a 26-year-old Peruvian, was stopped in February at an airport in Puerto Rico, a US territory, while returning to Wisconsin after her honeymoon.
Although her visa had expired, she had already initiated residency procedures. Munoz is being held in Louisiana, according to her husband Bradley Bartell, who voted for Trump.
“I’m still kind of in shock,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I have any regrets (voting for Trump), I think the regrets are with the system,” he added.
“I’d ask him to sort out the judicial system and fix the problem.”
For immigration lawyer David Rozas, who is advising Bartell, the current crackdown is “the scariest” of his 21-year career.
He described migrants as “the backbone of this country,” doing jobs no one else wants.
“People feel extremely betrayed,” Rozas said. “And we are going to end up with a huge labor shortage unless something changes.”
– ‘By the book’ –
Shirly Guardado, a 27-year-old Honduran, was at her job near Houston when immigration agents took her away.
“She’s not a criminal. She’s my wife. She’s the mother of my son,” said Ayssac Correa, 25, a sergeant in the US Army.
“She’s always done everything by the book,” he added. “She’s always been a law-abiding citizen.”
Guardado entered the country undocumented a decade ago, but had begun the paperwork to get legal residency.
In her absence, he has been caring for their 10-month-old son, who is “not sleeping as well” without his mother, Correa said.
He fears that his wife may be deported, and that securing her return could be a prolonged process.
“That’s three to five years my son would not have his mom,” he said.
By AFP
March 23, 2025
US Army Sergeant Ayssac Correa's wife Shirly Guardado was at work in Houston when immigration agents took her away - Copyright AFP RONALDO SCHEMIDT
US Army Sergeant Ayssac Correa's wife Shirly Guardado was at work in Houston when immigration agents took her away - Copyright AFP RONALDO SCHEMIDT
Moisés ÁVILA
Franco Caraballo was arrested while at a US immigration center for an appointment. Shirly Guardado was detained while at work. Camila Munoz was taken into custody on her way home from her honeymoon.
US President Donald Trump’s hunt for migrants to expel from the country is sparing no one. And while the government claims only criminals are being targeted, many of those in the crosshairs tell a different story.
At a checkpoint in Texas, immigration agents stopped an undocumented Mexican couple on their way to a Houston hospital for their 10-year-old daughter’s cancer treatment.
The family was deported, separating the parents from their children, five of whom are US citizens, rights group Texas Civil Rights Project said.
“We had to decide between being separated from our children or being deported together,” the children’s mother told the rights group.
“Now we are in Mexico without access to the urgent medical care our daughter needs,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), the Trump administration detained 32,809 migrants in its first 50 days in office, almost half of whom were convicted criminals.
Last weekend it deported more than 200 to a prison in El Salvador, invoking the rarely used 1798 Alien Enemies Act and accusing most of the deportees of belonging to the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang.
– Deported over tattoos –
Not all who were deported appear to be gang members, however.
Franco Caraballo, a 26-year-old Venezuelan barber who has been in asylum proceedings since 2023, went to an appointment at the ICE office in Dallas, Texas, in February.
He did not come out.
“I haven’t done anything, I’m a good person,” he told his wife Johanny Sanchez over the phone.
Caraballo told her that officers put him in a red uniform meant to identify migrants classified as “dangerous.”
Lacking resources in his absence, she has had to sleep in her car.
“My lawyer spoke with ICE and they told him that Franco was deported (to El Salvador), that he had no criminal record but that they suspect he was a member of Tren de Aragua because of his tattoos,” Johanny Sanchez said.
Caraballo, she said, has two tattoos: one of a clock showing his first daughter’s birth time, and one of a rose.
Venezuelan Mervin Yamarte, 29, was recognized by family members in Dallas in a video released by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele showing the arrival of deportees from the United States.
Arrested a week earlier, Yamarte worked as a mechanic and played soccer with jersey number 99. That number, his family said, was tattooed on his hand.
Jhon Chacin, a 35-year-old Venezuelan tattoo artist, formally surrendered upon his arrival at the border in October 2024, during former president Joe Biden’s tenure.
He was detained because of his tattoos.
Now, the Trump administration has sent him to El Salvador, despite having presented no evidence against him, his sister Yuliana told AFP.
– ‘In shock’ –
Camila Munoz, a 26-year-old Peruvian, was stopped in February at an airport in Puerto Rico, a US territory, while returning to Wisconsin after her honeymoon.
Although her visa had expired, she had already initiated residency procedures. Munoz is being held in Louisiana, according to her husband Bradley Bartell, who voted for Trump.
“I’m still kind of in shock,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I have any regrets (voting for Trump), I think the regrets are with the system,” he added.
“I’d ask him to sort out the judicial system and fix the problem.”
For immigration lawyer David Rozas, who is advising Bartell, the current crackdown is “the scariest” of his 21-year career.
He described migrants as “the backbone of this country,” doing jobs no one else wants.
“People feel extremely betrayed,” Rozas said. “And we are going to end up with a huge labor shortage unless something changes.”
– ‘By the book’ –
Shirly Guardado, a 27-year-old Honduran, was at her job near Houston when immigration agents took her away.
“She’s not a criminal. She’s my wife. She’s the mother of my son,” said Ayssac Correa, 25, a sergeant in the US Army.
“She’s always done everything by the book,” he added. “She’s always been a law-abiding citizen.”
Guardado entered the country undocumented a decade ago, but had begun the paperwork to get legal residency.
In her absence, he has been caring for their 10-month-old son, who is “not sleeping as well” without his mother, Correa said.
He fears that his wife may be deported, and that securing her return could be a prolonged process.
“That’s three to five years my son would not have his mom,” he said.
'Nazis got better treatment,' judge says of Trump admin deportations
Agence France-Presse
March 24, 2025
This handout picture from El Salvador's presidency shows the arrival of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua at a prison in Tecoluca. (AFP)
by Chris Lefkow
A federal judge on Monday sharply criticized the Trump administration's summary deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying "Nazis got better treatment" from the United States during World War II.
President Donald Trump sent two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador on March 15 after invoking an obscure wartime law known as the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
James Boasberg, chief judge of the US District Court in Washington, issued a restraining order that same day temporarily barring the Trump administration from carrying out any further deportation flights under the AEA.
The Justice Department is seeking to have the order lifted and a three-judge US Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments in the closely watched case on Monday.
Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said the judge's order "represents an unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch" and "enjoins the president's exercise of his war and foreign affairs powers."
Judge Patricia Millett appeared unconvinced and said the lower court judge was not disputing Trump's presidential authority only the denial of individual court hearings to the deportees.
Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.
"Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act," said Millett, an appointee of former Democratic president Barack Obama. "They had hearing boards before people were removed."
"People on those planes on that Saturday had no opportunity to challenge their removal under the AEA," she said. "Y'all could have picked me up on Saturday and thrown me on a plane thinking I'm a member of Tren de Aragua and given me no chance to protest it.
"Somehow it's a violation of presidential war powers for me to say, 'Excuse me, no, I'm not. I'd like a hearing?'"
Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, also suggested that court hearings were warranted but appeared more receptive to the arguments that the judge's order impinged on presidential powers.
The third judge on the panel is an appointee of former Republican president George H.W. Bush.
The AEA, which has previously only been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, gives the government vast powers to round up citizens of a "hostile nation" during wartime.
- 'Disappeared' -
Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against the deportations, told the appeals court panel that the Trump administration was using the AEA "to try and short circuit immigration proceedings."
The government would likely immediately resume AEA deportations if the temporary restraining order was lifted, Gelernt said.
"We are talking about people being sent to El Salvador, to one of the worst prisons in the world, incommunicado," he said. "They're essentially being disappeared."
In a 37-page opinion issued on Monday, Boasberg, the district court judge, said that migrants subject to potential deportation under the AEA should be "entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all."
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Boasberg, even going so far as to call for his impeachment, a remark that drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
The contentious case has raised concerns among legal experts that the Trump administration would potentially ignore the court order, triggering a constitutional crisis.
Ahead of the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced plans to send three alleged TdA members facing extortion and kidnapping charges to Chile under the AEA.
Blanche said the Justice Department "is taking every step within the bounds of the law to ensure these individuals are promptly sent to Chile to face justice."
Agence France-Presse
March 24, 2025
This handout picture from El Salvador's presidency shows the arrival of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua at a prison in Tecoluca. (AFP)
by Chris Lefkow
A federal judge on Monday sharply criticized the Trump administration's summary deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, saying "Nazis got better treatment" from the United States during World War II.
President Donald Trump sent two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador on March 15 after invoking an obscure wartime law known as the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
James Boasberg, chief judge of the US District Court in Washington, issued a restraining order that same day temporarily barring the Trump administration from carrying out any further deportation flights under the AEA.
The Justice Department is seeking to have the order lifted and a three-judge US Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments in the closely watched case on Monday.
Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said the judge's order "represents an unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch" and "enjoins the president's exercise of his war and foreign affairs powers."
Judge Patricia Millett appeared unconvinced and said the lower court judge was not disputing Trump's presidential authority only the denial of individual court hearings to the deportees.
Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.
"Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act," said Millett, an appointee of former Democratic president Barack Obama. "They had hearing boards before people were removed."
"People on those planes on that Saturday had no opportunity to challenge their removal under the AEA," she said. "Y'all could have picked me up on Saturday and thrown me on a plane thinking I'm a member of Tren de Aragua and given me no chance to protest it.
"Somehow it's a violation of presidential war powers for me to say, 'Excuse me, no, I'm not. I'd like a hearing?'"
Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, also suggested that court hearings were warranted but appeared more receptive to the arguments that the judge's order impinged on presidential powers.
The third judge on the panel is an appointee of former Republican president George H.W. Bush.
The AEA, which has previously only been used during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II, gives the government vast powers to round up citizens of a "hostile nation" during wartime.
- 'Disappeared' -
Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against the deportations, told the appeals court panel that the Trump administration was using the AEA "to try and short circuit immigration proceedings."
The government would likely immediately resume AEA deportations if the temporary restraining order was lifted, Gelernt said.
"We are talking about people being sent to El Salvador, to one of the worst prisons in the world, incommunicado," he said. "They're essentially being disappeared."
In a 37-page opinion issued on Monday, Boasberg, the district court judge, said that migrants subject to potential deportation under the AEA should be "entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all."
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Boasberg, even going so far as to call for his impeachment, a remark that drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
The contentious case has raised concerns among legal experts that the Trump administration would potentially ignore the court order, triggering a constitutional crisis.
Ahead of the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced plans to send three alleged TdA members facing extortion and kidnapping charges to Chile under the AEA.
Blanche said the Justice Department "is taking every step within the bounds of the law to ensure these individuals are promptly sent to Chile to face justice."
Venezuela-hired lawyers ask Salvadoran court for migrants' freedom
Agence France-Presse
March 24, 2025
Salvadoran demonstrators demanded the release of Venezuelan prisoners. (AFP)
A law firm hired by Caracas filed a petition in El Salvador's Supreme Court Monday for the liberation of dozens of the 238 Venezuelans deported from the United States to a notoriously harsh prison in the Central American country.
US President Donald Trump invoked rarely-used wartime legislation to fly the men to El Salvador on March 16, alleging they were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang, which their families and lawyers deny.
The deportations took place despite a US federal judge granting a temporary suspension of the expulsion order, and the men were taken in chains, their heads freshly shorn, to El Salvador's maximum security "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT).
On Monday, lawyer Jaime Ortega filed a habeas corpus petition, demanding justification be provided for the migrants' continued detention.
"They have not committed any crimes in our country," Ortega said at the court, while elsewhere in San Salvador, hundreds of protesters clamored for the Venezuelans' freedom.
Ortega said he was hired by the Venezuelan government and a committee of relatives of detained Venezuelans.
He added he had a mandate from families of 30 of the prisoners, but would eventually work for the release of the group in its "totality."
President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador is hailed at home for his crackdown on violent crime -- with tens of thousands of suspected gangsters sent to the CECOT, which he had specially built.
Human rights groups have criticized the drive for a wide range of alleged abuses.
Bukele replaced senior judges and the attorney general, and a new-look Supreme Court, friendly to the president, allowed him to seek reelection last year despite a constitutional single-term limit. He won.
"Bukele already violates the human rights of thousands of Salvadorans... and now he is preparing to violate the rights of these people from Venezuela who have not been proven guilty of a crime," protester Antonio Medrano, 47, said in the capital Monday.
March 24, 2025
Salvadoran demonstrators demanded the release of Venezuelan prisoners. (AFP)
A law firm hired by Caracas filed a petition in El Salvador's Supreme Court Monday for the liberation of dozens of the 238 Venezuelans deported from the United States to a notoriously harsh prison in the Central American country.
US President Donald Trump invoked rarely-used wartime legislation to fly the men to El Salvador on March 16, alleging they were members of the violent Tren de Aragua gang, which their families and lawyers deny.
The deportations took place despite a US federal judge granting a temporary suspension of the expulsion order, and the men were taken in chains, their heads freshly shorn, to El Salvador's maximum security "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT).
On Monday, lawyer Jaime Ortega filed a habeas corpus petition, demanding justification be provided for the migrants' continued detention.
"They have not committed any crimes in our country," Ortega said at the court, while elsewhere in San Salvador, hundreds of protesters clamored for the Venezuelans' freedom.
Ortega said he was hired by the Venezuelan government and a committee of relatives of detained Venezuelans.
He added he had a mandate from families of 30 of the prisoners, but would eventually work for the release of the group in its "totality."
President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador is hailed at home for his crackdown on violent crime -- with tens of thousands of suspected gangsters sent to the CECOT, which he had specially built.
Human rights groups have criticized the drive for a wide range of alleged abuses.
Bukele replaced senior judges and the attorney general, and a new-look Supreme Court, friendly to the president, allowed him to seek reelection last year despite a constitutional single-term limit. He won.
"Bukele already violates the human rights of thousands of Salvadorans... and now he is preparing to violate the rights of these people from Venezuela who have not been proven guilty of a crime," protester Antonio Medrano, 47, said in the capital Monday.
'DMs are open!' Trump DOJ mocked over 'state secrets' legal claim — as state secrets leak
Daniel Hampton
March 24, 2025
RAW STORY
Venezuelan migrants walk following their arrival on a flight after being deported from the United States, in Caracas, Venezuela, March 24, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
The Trump administration was subjected to a healthy amount of criticism and mockery on social media as it invoked the state secrets privilege Monday in response to a federal judge's order to provide further information about the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.
The Justice Department's action came after several days of heated back-and-forth with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who ordered the Trump administration to turn around a plane of Venezuelan migrants, whom officials have said were gang members.
The Justice Department argued that the court "has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues" and that further details would threaten national security and foreign relations, Newsweek reported.
"Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the Court lacks competence to address," the filing said. "Accordingly, the states secrets privilege forecloses further demands for details that have no place in this matter, and the government will address the Court's order to show cause tomorrow by demonstrating that there is no basis for the suggestion of noncompliance with any binding order."
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche endorsed the filing.
But social media critics noted late Monday that the Trump administration has a rocky history with state secrets — particularly given reporting that earlier in the day, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth inadvertently shared top-secret bombing plans with the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
Attorney and Rewire journalist Imani Gandy wrote on Blusky, "Invoking the state secrets privilege is pretty ironic since apparently all the state secrets are on WhatsApp and Snapchat."
"The Justice Department instructing Judge Boasberg to yield to 'the mandate of the electorate' and stop asking questions about defiance of his court order is honestly one of the most demented and disturbing things I’ve ever seen in a legal filing. It comes pretty close to a claim of divine right," remarked Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer at Slate.
"'[W]inning an election makes you sovereign' is definitely a claim of dictatorial authority," added New York Times Columnist Jamelle Bouie. He added: "[S]tate secrets doctrine" seems straightforwardly incompatible with any notion of the executive as one of limited authority."
"This is so preposterous. When the flight took off is not a state secret. They are invoking the state secrets privilege because they violated the court's order and they can't admit it. That's it," wrote business litigator Josh Stokes on Bluesky.
"State Secrets did you say - no problem, my DMs are open," chided Philip Gourevitch, staff writer at The New Yorker.
"The team that accidentally adds a prominent journalist to a text chain where they are improperly discussing classified information on an insecure text thread can probably be trusted to deport people with no due process without actually sweeping up any citizens," a sarcastic Matthew Yglesias, columnist at Bloomberg, wrote on X.
National security attorney Mark S. Zaid added: "I've litigated multiple State Secrets cases & I'm one of select few attorneys in 75 years who defeated govt invocation. SCOTUS made it clear when creating privilege that invocation does not require judges to abdicate their responsibility to question Executive Branch assertion."
March 24, 2025
RAW STORY
Venezuelan migrants walk following their arrival on a flight after being deported from the United States, in Caracas, Venezuela, March 24, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
The Trump administration was subjected to a healthy amount of criticism and mockery on social media as it invoked the state secrets privilege Monday in response to a federal judge's order to provide further information about the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.
The Justice Department's action came after several days of heated back-and-forth with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who ordered the Trump administration to turn around a plane of Venezuelan migrants, whom officials have said were gang members.
The Justice Department argued that the court "has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues" and that further details would threaten national security and foreign relations, Newsweek reported.
"Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the Court lacks competence to address," the filing said. "Accordingly, the states secrets privilege forecloses further demands for details that have no place in this matter, and the government will address the Court's order to show cause tomorrow by demonstrating that there is no basis for the suggestion of noncompliance with any binding order."
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche endorsed the filing.
But social media critics noted late Monday that the Trump administration has a rocky history with state secrets — particularly given reporting that earlier in the day, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth inadvertently shared top-secret bombing plans with the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
Attorney and Rewire journalist Imani Gandy wrote on Blusky, "Invoking the state secrets privilege is pretty ironic since apparently all the state secrets are on WhatsApp and Snapchat."
"The Justice Department instructing Judge Boasberg to yield to 'the mandate of the electorate' and stop asking questions about defiance of his court order is honestly one of the most demented and disturbing things I’ve ever seen in a legal filing. It comes pretty close to a claim of divine right," remarked Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer at Slate.
"'[W]inning an election makes you sovereign' is definitely a claim of dictatorial authority," added New York Times Columnist Jamelle Bouie. He added: "[S]tate secrets doctrine" seems straightforwardly incompatible with any notion of the executive as one of limited authority."
"This is so preposterous. When the flight took off is not a state secret. They are invoking the state secrets privilege because they violated the court's order and they can't admit it. That's it," wrote business litigator Josh Stokes on Bluesky.
"State Secrets did you say - no problem, my DMs are open," chided Philip Gourevitch, staff writer at The New Yorker.
"The team that accidentally adds a prominent journalist to a text chain where they are improperly discussing classified information on an insecure text thread can probably be trusted to deport people with no due process without actually sweeping up any citizens," a sarcastic Matthew Yglesias, columnist at Bloomberg, wrote on X.
National security attorney Mark S. Zaid added: "I've litigated multiple State Secrets cases & I'm one of select few attorneys in 75 years who defeated govt invocation. SCOTUS made it clear when creating privilege that invocation does not require judges to abdicate their responsibility to question Executive Branch assertion."
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