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Homeland Security said a murder suspect, a man accused of a sex offense against a teen girl, and another involved in smuggling illegal immigrants were among the Venezuelans deported under President Trump’s orders over the weekend, in flights that skirted a judge’s orders.
Robert L. Cerna II, a senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said not all of the more than 200 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador had criminal records in the U.S. but that all of them were confirmed members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
And some have amassed criminal records in other countries, including several being investigated for homicides in Venezuela and at least six on Interpol alerts.
Mr. Cerna said it was “critical” that the migrants be ousted quickly, given TdA’s new designation as a terrorist organization and the danger of recruiting more people from within the U.S.
“Keeping them in ICE custody where they could potentially continue to recruit new TdA members posed a grave risk to ICE personnel; other, nonviolent detainees; and the United States as a whole. Holding hundreds of members of a designated foreign terrorist organization, where there is an immediate mechanism to remove them, would be irresponsible,” Mr. Cerna told a federal court.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has questioned the need for the speedy removals, which the administration said it carried out under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, Mr. Trump’s foreign policy and his powers as commander in chief.
SEE ALSO: Trump calls for impeachment of judge who’s blocking deportation flights
Judge Boasberg tried to block three flights that carried 238 TdA members and 21 MS-13 gang members to El Salvador, where the U.S. is paying for them to be detained. The judge even ordered planes to be turned around if they were in the air.
The judge is trying to see if that order was defied.
In a second declaration Tuesday, Mr. Cerna said the first two flights departed the U.S. before 7:25 p.m. Saturday, which is when the judge’s written order was issued.
A third plane departed after that, but Mr. Cerna said all of the people on that plane had already been ordered removed by an immigration judge and so could have been deported even without Mr. Trump’s flexing the Alien Enemies Act.
Mr. Cerna, in response to another question from Judge Boasberg, said 54 more TdA members are being held in ICE detention, 172 more are on ICE’s docket but aren’t detained, and 32 others are in criminal custody of other law enforcement agencies and ICE has detainer requests asking they be turned over to the agency upon release.
Mr. Cerna, in his first filing with Judge Boasberg on Tuesday, detailed the steps ICE took to make sure that it deported only TdA gangsters. He said each person was vetted by ICE officers and agents with expertise in gang activity and after checking court records, investigative files and interviews with known TdA members.
“ICE did not simply rely on social media posts, photographs of the alien displaying gang-related hand gestures, or tattoos alone,” Mr. Cerna said.
The Justice Department has asked an appeals court to remove Judge Boasberg from the case, saying he’s broken precedent with his handling of the issue and has threatened national security objectives.
English (US) ·