On a Thursday morning last month, immigration agents knocked on the door of Leonel Echavez' Dallas home looking for someone else. Despite having an upcoming immigration hearing, the 19-year-old Venezuelan was taken into custody for questioning about his tattoos.
Two days later, he was on a plane to El Salvador's most notorious prison.
The Trump administration deported Echavez and 237 others labeled as Venezuelan gang members, leaving them no opportunity to contest the allegations in court.
The U.S. government has provided minimal information about the deportees, only stating that they belong to Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal group from Venezuela classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration.
Through interviews with the family members of 50 of the deportees—identified via advocates and family members in the U.S. and Venezuela, and confirmed against a leaked list of deportees—Reuters has compiled the most comprehensive picture to date of how these men became ensnared in a rapid-deportation process.
Among the Venezuelans whose cases were reviewed, 27 were never ordered deported. They had upcoming immigration court hearings to present their asylum claims, according to immigration court records, despite currently being in El Salvador.
Judges in several cases expressed shock upon discovering that migrants who failed to appear for scheduled immigration court dates had been deported, as reported by immigration lawyers who attended those hearings.
This operation, conducted under President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target alleged members of Tren de Aragua, has faced criticism from civil rights groups for its lack of due process.
A U.S. appeals court recently ruled to block Trump’s use of the law, prompting the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In a late court filing, the American Civil Liberties Union disclosed what it described as a government checklist for identifying Tren de Aragua members. The undated document employs a points system based on factors such as criminal convictions and court records, as well as tattoos, hand gestures, and clothing—criteria that experts cited by the ACLU argue may lead to misidentification.
When asked for comment, a Trump administration official expressed confidence in the gang-member identification process, stating, “Intelligence assessments go well beyond a single tattoo.”
Trump, upon regaining the White House, indicated he could invoke the Alien Enemies Act to target foreign gangs, asserting that the law grants broad authority to deport alleged Tren de Aragua members.
Of the 50 men, at least two dozen entered the U.S. using a smartphone app known as CBP One, designed to allow migrants to schedule appointments to request entry at legal border crossings. This app was introduced during Joe Biden's administration.
Eight of those deported to El Salvador had been detained at the border under Biden and were held until their removal.
Ten of the 50 were apprehended during routine immigration check-ins.
Others were taken while engaged in daily activities—filling up their cars, leaving for work, or listening to music with friends.
They held various jobs, including barbers, tattoo artists, construction workers, delivery drivers, and factory workers.
Family members of over two dozen deportees provided documents from the Venezuelan government affirming clean criminal records, and all 50 families asserted that their loved ones were not gang members. However, Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of these documents.
Criminal charges were found in the U.S. for names matching six members of the group, including domestic violence and shoplifting, as well as a conviction for lewd and threatening language.
The Trump administration has acknowledged in court that many of the men sent to El Salvador do not have U.S. criminal records.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Robert Cerna stated in a March 17 court filing, “The lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose. It demonstrates that they are terrorists regarding whom we lack a complete profile.”
Echavez, the 19-year-old, had come to the U.S. to claim asylum in 2023, according to his mother, Maria Luisa Paz, joining hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing economic hardship and an authoritarian regime.
Immigrants judged not to pose a safety or flight risk are often allowed to pursue their asylum cases while living freely in the United States, as long as they check in regularly with ICE.
Echavez, who held a work permit, was employed at an aluminum plant and lived with his cousin Daniel Paz and another friend. On March 13, immigration agents sought Paz, who had a deportation order, according to Paz’s sister Greilys Herrera.
Echavez and his friend were caught up in the operation but were told they would be released after some questioning about their tattoos. Echavez has tattoos of a rose with branches, an arrow, and his sister’s name. He has an immigration court hearing scheduled for July 2026 in Dallas.
Three-quarters of the 50 men had tattoos.
Immigration lawyers, family members, and advocates claim that authorities are rounding up young Venezuelan men based on tattoos that honor family members or signify their professions, rather than indicating membership in the Tren de Aragua gang.
The Trump administration insists it deported dangerous gang members but has declined to provide evidence.
An ICE briefing document noted that Tren de Aragua members have been observed with tattoos of crowns, trains, and clocks as identifiers, while also mentioning clothing associated with U.S. professional sports teams.
A separate intelligence document from U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso Sector dated October 2023 offered conflicting guidance, stating that Chicago Bulls attire, clocks, and rose tattoos “are not a definite indicator” of gang membership.
Both documents were submitted as evidence by the ACLU in its lawsuit.
Primarily known in Latin America, Tren de Aragua is not believed to have a significant presence in the U.S., according to Rebecca Hanson, an expert on Venezuelan gangs and assistant professor at the University of Florida.
In a declaration for the ACLU, Hanson remarked that it was “absolutely implausible” that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's regime was intertwined with Tren de Aragua, which is a key legal point in Trump's argument for invoking the Alien Enemies Act.
Hanson stated that members cannot be identified solely by tattoos or hand gestures.
When Frengel Reyes, a 24-year-old house painter residing in Tampa with his wife and their nine-year-old son, attended his check-in on February 4, he was detained, according to his lawyer Mark Prada.
ICE described Reyes in his immigration paperwork as a possible "affiliate" of Tren de Aragua. Records reviewed by Reuters contained another individual's alien registration number and incorrectly identified him as a woman, without providing any evidence of gang affiliation.
According to Prada, the ICE attorney informed the immigration court judge that the government did not need to provide proof of the accuracy of its records, as it wasn’t an "evidentiary hearing."
“The government has provided no evidence in its claim that he may be a gang member and then disappeared him,” Prada said in an interview. “This is complete lawlessness.”
In the asylum case of Andry Hernandez, a gay make-up artist detained at the border while requesting entry via the CBP One app, ICE alleged gang membership based on his tattoos.
“CROWN HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE AN IDENTIFIER FOR A TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBER,” an officer noted in a September 2024 screening summary, assigning it five points, without marking any other categories.
The tattoos in question? Crowns on his wrists, one inscribed with “mom” and the other with “dad.”