Overview
As President Trump has been implementing his stringent immigration policies since the beginning of his returning administration, one way that he has demonstrated his draconian stances has been through the deportation of 200 + Venezuelans to El Salvador. In an effort to address what the administration described as an “invasion of the country” by Tren de Aragua, an infamous gang that originated in a large prison in Venezuela, Trump signed an executive order to have alleged gang members promptly deported to El Salvador. This order is obviously concerning, as although El Salvador has undergone a significant decrease in gang violence ever since the beginning of Nayib Bukele’s gang crackdown on March 2022, the country has been known to have arrested, harmed, and even killed with impunity thousands upon thousands of innocent Venezuelans with no ties to gangs whatsoever. This, combined with the fact that numerous undocumented Venezuelans with little to no criminal history have been affected by Trump’s executive order, raises the troubling possibility of El Salvador imprisoning more innocent civilians and strengthening Bukele’s authoritarian regime.
Some Legal Pushbacks from Legal Institutions and Organizations
Despite some governmental support for Trump’s executive order, District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act on March 15. However, Trump also stated that he would continue deportations through legal authorities, though he did not specify which ones. As for Venezuela, their government has also pushed back against Trump’s stringent policy, hiring 238 lawyers to file legal actions such as habeas corpus petitions and asked for it to be extended to Venezuelans detained in El Salvador. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of uncertainties as to how this will be adjudicated, as constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya points out in an article with AP News: “Who is going to decide these people’s freedom, U.S. judges, Salvadoran judges?”. In addition, Maryland’s 8th Congressional district representative Jami Raskin has demanded in a letter to the Trump administration for information on the administration’s use of the Alien Enemy Act; one of the reasons being the removal of a Venezuelan soccer player. Suspected of being part of the gang merely due to his tattoo of popular soccer club Real Madrid, and a photo of him on social media with his hand gesturing the ‘Rock and Roll’ symbol, Jerce Reyes Barrios was deported to El Salvador despite having no criminal record. Many other Venezuelans have also been affected by similar unsubstantiated accusations, so Raskin had demanded that the Trump administration provides further information on those detained and deported. In fact, many of those deported originally had some form of protected status that would have protected them from removal. Lastly, District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco has recently blocked Trump’s plan of removing deportation protection for almost 350,000 people, explaining that allowing Trump to go forth with such termination “would inflict irreparable harm on families”.
What this means for current undocumented Venezuelans
With Trump continuing to deport Venezuelans based on flawed and arbitrary metrics, the necessity for those affected to know their rights is more apparent than ever. Despite legal professionals pushing back against this administration’s efforts to stifle immigrants’ rights, the risks of undocumented Venezuelans being deported is still increasing. With these drastic changes, undocumented Venezuelans must be prepared for potential ICE encounters, and knowing their rights is a crucial way of doing so. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) provides cards that undocumented folks can print out and give to immigration authorities if they are ever stopped by them or if they ever ask to enter their homes without a proper warrant to do so. These cards may also be available in other non-profit organizations and immigration law firms. Lastly, the ILRC has provided some guidance on how to make the best use of these cards if folks are ever stopped by immigration agents, or if immigration authorities ever knock on their doors.
Contact Wilson Immigration today for help with your immigration application: 415-527-5886.