SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Less than $3 per week View Profile The Explainer Talking Points The Week Recommends Newsletters From the Magazine The Week Junior Food & Drink Personal Finance All Categories Newsletter sign up Venezuelan deportees: Locked up for tattoos? A former pro soccer player was deported after U.S. authorities claimed his tattoo proved he belonged to a Venezuelan gang Newsletter sign up “Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act” (Image credit: LB Studios / Getty Images) The Week US 31 March 2025 As details emerge about the 238 Venezuelans deported to a brutal El Salvador prison, it’s become clear why the Trump administration gave these accused gang members no “semblance of due process,” said Shirin Ali and Mark Joseph Stern in Slate: Evidence of their criminality “is weak to the point of nonexistence.” The administration called the men members of the gang Tren de Aragua and thus subject to immediate deportation under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act. But stories are emerging like that of Jerce Reyes Barrios, a former pro soccer player who was “living peacefully” in the U.S. with no criminal record. Barrios, 36, says he sought asylum in the U.S. after being arrested, electrocuted, and suffocated in a protest against the Venezuelan regime. Now U.S. authorities claim that his tattoo of a crown atop a soccer ball inspired by the logo of his favorite team, Real Madrid, proves he belonged to Tren de Aragua. Many others seem to have been locked up due to “benign tattoos,” like one man’s crown of thorns, a “tribute to his grandmother” stamped with her death date. Terrified family members say loved ones with no gang ties are imprisoned, said Trevor Hughes in USA Today. They include Franco José Caraballo, 26, who fled Venezuela with his wife and applied for asylum after they were “roughed up” for opposing President Nicolás Maduro. The longtime barber was cutting hair in Sherman, Texas, before a razor tattoo on his neck “caught the eye of authorities.” He and the others “could face long or indefinite detention” in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a prison “rife with human rights abuses,” said Daniella Silva in NBCNews.com. Inmates have spoken of extreme crowding and torture, but the Venezuelans’ attorneys say they have no path to recourse and can’t even contact their clients. What happens now is uncertain, said Marcos Alemán in the Associated Press. This week, lawyers hired by the Venezuelan government petitioned for the prisoners’ release, but “the lack of judicial independence” in El Salvador makes it “unlikely” the country’s courts will help. In the U.S., two judges ripped the deportees’ lack of due process, said Jan Wolfe and Sadie Gurman in The Wall Street Journal. “Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act,” said Patricia Millett, a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which will rule on whether the Trump administration can resume deportations under the act. No president has ever used the 1798 statute as Trump has, said Millett, putting the nation “in unprecedented territory.” Subscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Explore More immigration The Week US Social Links Navigation Saving the post office The U.S. Postal Service is facing mounting losses and growing calls for privatization. Can it survive? ByThe Week US Published 31 March 25 Rule of law: Are we in a constitutional crisis? Donald Trump defies federal court order to halt deportation flights to El Salvador ByThe Week US Published 31 March 25 What does the Le Pen verdict mean for the future of French politics? 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'Schumer had only bad political options' ByThe Week US Published 25 March 25 Judge: Nazis treated better than Trump deportees U.S. District Judge James Boasberg reaffirmed his order barring President Donald Trump from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members ByPeter Weber, The Week US Published 25 March 25 View More ▸ Contact Future's experts Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Advertise With Us The Week is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street