An immigration rights group representing Venezuela’s LGBTQ asylum seekers says the Trump Vance administration on March 15 “forcedly eliminated” him from the United States and sent him to El Salvador.
In a telephone interview with the Washington Blade on Tuesday, Alvaro M. Fuerta, director of lawsuits and advocacy for the Immigration Defenders’ Law Center, said officials with US immigration and customs enforcement and US border protection claimed that his organization’s clients were members of Trende Ragua, a Venezuela-based gang.
“It’s very flimsy,” Fuerta said. “These are the types of tattoos artists in New York City and Los Angeles have. There’s nothing to make him a gang member.”
On February 20th, the White House designated Tren de Aragua as an “international terrorist organization.”
On March 15th, President Donald Trump invoked the alien enemy law of 1798. Note The United States can deport “non-citizens without legal reliance.”
“I declare that all Venezuelan citizens over the age of 14 who are members of the TDA (Tren de Aragua) are within the United States and are not in fact independent or legal residents. The declaration announced the call to 18th century law.
Asylum seekers – Those who are not identified by name because the Immigration Defender Law Center is “at risk” are one of the hundreds of Venezuelans the United States sent to El Salvador on March 15th.
Supreme Court Justice James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia’s U.S. District Court temporarily blocked the deportation. AP Note The flight was already in the air when Boasberg issued his sentence.
Fuerta said US officials confirmed Monday that asylum seekers were “in fact in El Salvador.” He told Blade that it remains unclear whether asylum seekers are in the country’s terrorist confinement centre, the largest security prison known for the Spanish acronym Cecot.
“We couldn’t find him.”
Fuerta said clients at the immigration defender law center escaped from Venezuela and sought asylum in the US
According to Huerta, asylum seekers passed a “reliable and fearful interview” that determines whether the asylum claim is valid. Fuerta said last year, US authorities detained asylum seekers when they returned to the country from the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
Fuerta told Blade that asylum seekers will appear before an immigration judge on March 13.
“We couldn’t find him,” Fuerta said.
He has speculated about whether Trump is trying to evoke alien enemy laws, and the Immigration Defenderslow Center has “begun to worry that he may have been caught up in this situation.”
“He is an LGBT individual who is a Venezuelan artist,” Fuerta said.
Neither Ice nor CBP responded to Blade’s request for comment.
Huerta said it is “hard to say” whether asylum seekers have legal replies.
“He’s still filing an ongoing lawsuit in immigration court,” Fuerta said. Asylum Seeker’s lawyer was in court on Monday and said there would be another hearing two weeks later. “Perhaps they should have allowed him to appear, at least effectively, for the court, because he still has these cases.”
The US pointed out that Trump took office, as the US deported hundreds of immigrants to Panama. Officials from Central America have been released from detention of dozens. Immigrants sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba have returned to US detention facilities
“Unless the government is approved, you can say that someone is a member of a tattoo-based gang and can be brought outside to the prison state (El Salvador) without offering proof, without going to court and saying that.
Fuerta also spoke about the Trump Vance administration’s overall immigration policy.
“The Trump administration knows exactly what they’re doing when it comes to making immigrants scapego-going and Asiliy scapego-going,” he said. “They have a population that is politically powerless in many ways, but in many other ways, they are politically powerful because they also stand behind them, but they are simple punch bags.”
“They can use this youkai, who are just people who say they’re criminals, but we’re just deporting criminals. They’re not necessarily proving that.” “They really feel they can fight and run. They’re testing the boundaries of what they can escape from inside and outside the courtroom.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
