Till 5 weeks in the past, Arturo Suarez used to be a certified singer, appearing in america as he waited for his asylum declare to be processed.
Firstly from Venezuela, he had entered the USA thru right kind, felony channels.
However he’s now imprisoned in a infamous prison in El Salvador, despatched there by means of the Trump management, in spite of reputedly by no means having confronted trial or dedicated any crime. The White Space claims he’s a gang member however has now not equipped proof to beef up this allegation.
His brother, Nelson Suarez, advised Sky Information he believes his brother’s simplest “crime” is being Venezuelan and having tattoos.
Symbol: Arturo Suarez, in a song video, is now in a infamous jail in El Salvador
“He isn’t a gang member,” Nelson says, adamantly, “I have come to the realization that it must be on account of the tattoos. In case you do not need a legal report, you have not dedicated any crime in america, what different explanation why may just there be? Since you’re Venezuelan?”
Arturo, 34, used to be recording a song video inside of a space in March when he used to be arrested by means of immigration brokers.
He used to be first taken to a deportation centre in El Paso, Texas, after which, it sounds as if, placed on to an army flight to El Salvador.
Symbol: Nelson Suarez insists his brother Arturo isn’t a gang member
His circle of relatives have now not heard from him since. Legal professionals and immigrant rights teams were not able to make touch with any of the greater than 200 Venezuelan males despatched to the CECOT jail, which holds participants of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs.
Tattoo clue to Arturo Suarez’s whereabouts
Nelson realized his brother is – perhaps – in CECOT simplest on account of {a photograph} he noticed on a information web site of a gaggle of inmates, with their palms and ft cuffed, heads shaved and our bodies shackled in combination.
Symbol: A gaggle of inmates are processed to be imprisoned within the CECOT prison in EL Salvador. Pic: Reuters 
Symbol: Nelson Suarez believes that is his brother Arturo Suarez because of his unique hummingbird tattoo. Pic: Reuters
“You’ll be able to see the hummingbird tattoo on his neck,” Nelson says, pointing to the image. He says Arturo sought after a hummingbird in reminiscence in their past due mom. Arturo has 33 tattoos in general, together with a piano, poems and verses from the Bible.
It might be that one, or extra, of the ones tattoos landed him on the centre of President Trump’s anti-immigration showpiece. Nelson displays me paperwork which point out that Arturo didn’t have a legal report in Venezuela, Chile, Colombia or america, the 4 nations he has lived in.
Sky Information contacted the White Space, the Division of Hometown Safety (DHS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a reaction to Arturo’s case however have now not heard again.
In March, Donald Trump signed the Alien Enemies Act, a legislation from 1798 which has been invoked simply thrice ahead of, in wartime.
It permits the president to detain and deport immigrants residing legally in the USA if they’re from nations deemed “enemies” of the federal government. On this example, Mr Trump claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had “infiltrated america” and used to be “carrying out abnormal battle”.
Symbol: Alleged gang participants imprisoned within the CECOT prison in El Salvador. Pic: Reuters
Gang image tattoos
Immigration officers have centred on positive tattoos being gang symbols. Immigration officials have been supplied with a file known as the “Alien Enemy Validation Information”, in keeping with a courtroom submitting from the American Civil Liberties Union. The file supplies a point-based machine to resolve if an immigrant in custody “could also be validated” as a gang member.
Migrants who rating six issues and better could also be designated as participants of the Tren de Aragua gang, in keeping with the file. Tattoos which fall below a “symbolism” class rating 4 issues and social media posts “showing” gang symbols are two issues. Tattoos regarded as suspicious, in keeping with the file, come with crowns, stars and the Michael Jordan Jumpman emblem.
Jerce Reyes Barrios’s tale
Some other of the boys despatched to CECOT jail is 36-year-old Jerce Reyes Barrios, who fled Venezuela remaining yr after marching in anti-government protests. He’s a former footballer and soccer trainer.
His attorney, Linette Tobin, advised Sky Information that Reyes Barrios entered the USA legally after ready in Mexico for 4 months for an immigration appointment after which presenting himself on the border.
Symbol: Jerce Reyes Barrios
She says he used to be detained in a most safety jail in the USA whilst watching for his asylum appointment. However ahead of that appointment came about, he used to be flown to the El Salvador jail.
Ms Tobin says the DHS deported Reyes Barrios as a result of they designated him a Tren De Aragua gang member in keeping with two items of proof.
The primary, she says, is a tattoo of the Actual Madrid soccer group emblem surrounded by means of rosary beads. She has since acquired a declaration from the tattoo artist mentioning that Reyes Barrios simply sought after a picture which depicted his favorite group.
Symbol: Jerce Reyes Barrios’s attorney says he has a tattoo of the Actual Madrid emblem surrounded by means of rosary beads
The second one piece of proof, she says, is a photo, which she displays me, of Reyes Barrios in a sizzling bath with pals when he used to be a school scholar 13 years in the past.
He’s creating a gesture which might be interpreted as “rock and roll”, however which she says has been interpreted as a gang image.
Symbol: Attorney Linette Tobin says this gesture has been interpreted as a gang image
Distraught circle of relatives in melancholy
Reyes Barrios has no legal report in his house nation. “I have by no means recognized anything else like this,” Ms Tobin says.
“My shopper used to be deported to a 3rd nation and we don’t have any approach of having in contact with him. His circle of relatives are distraught and in melancholy, they cry so much, now not figuring out what’s going on with him. We would like him returned to america to have a listening to and due procedure.”
Ms Tobin says she and different attorneys representing males despatched to the El Salvador jail are looking to determine a UN operating team on enforced disappearances to do a wellness test on them since the jail is totally “incommunicado”.
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1:10 17 March: US migrants deported to El Salvador
Sky Information contacted the DHS for remark about Reyes Barrios’s case however didn’t obtain a reaction. The DHS up to now issued a remark stating that “DHS intelligence checks pass well past simply gang-affiliated tattoos. This guy’s personal social media signifies he’s a member of Tren de Aragua”.
Reyes Barrios has an immigration listening to scheduled for 17 April, Ms Tobin says, which the Trump management is making an attempt to push aside at the grounds that he’s now not in the USA anymore.
Within the intervening time, kids he used to train soccer for in his homeland of Machiques in Venezuela were maintaining a prayer vigil for him and calling for his free up.
The secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, visited CECOT remaining month and posed for pictures status in entrance of inmates in the back of bars.
Symbol: Division of Hometown Safety secretary Kristi Noem visited CECOT in March. Pic: Reuters
“Don’t come to our nation illegally,” she mentioned, “you’ll be got rid of, and you’ll be prosecuted.” Donald Trump had promised all through his election marketing campaign to clamp down on immigration, railing in opposition to undocumented immigrants and claiming immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our nation”.
I ask Arturo Suarez’s brother, Nelson, how he felt staring at Ms Noem posing within the jail, figuring out that his brother could be shut by means of.
“I believe unhealthy,” he says, “I believe terrible, as a result of in the ones photographs we simplest see criminals. With my brother, I believe it’s extra a political factor. They wanted numbers, they mentioned, those are the numbers, and now, let’s throw them to the lions.”
Symbol: Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: AP
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s tale
The Trump management has admitted that no less than one guy despatched to the El Salvador prison used to be despatched by means of “administrative error”. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who used to be residing in Maryland, used to be despatched to CECOT in spite of a pass judgement on’s previous ruling in 2019 that granted him felony coverage to stick in the USA.
The White Space has alleged Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, however his attorneys argued there is not any proof to turn out this.
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A federal pass judgement on has ordered Garcia will have to be returned to the USA by means of Monday 7 April. In a submit on X, White Space deputy leader of group of workers Stephen Miller referred to the pass judgement on as a “Marxist”, who “now thinks she’s president of El Salvador”.
White Space press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned: “We propose the pass judgement on touch President Bukele as a result of we’re ignorant of the pass judgement on having jurisdiction or authority over the rustic of El Salvador.”
