America deported 238 Venezuelan males on 3 flights to El Salvador on March 15, 2025, claiming that they had been participants of the Tren de Aragua gang that originated in Venezuela.
Immigration officers have stated that tattoos weren’t the only real standards used when deciding whom to deport; then again, a central authority file confirmed that officers depended on tattoos and clothes to decide gang club.
A attorney for Jerce Reyes Barrios, a qualified football participant who is without doubt one of the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador, says the federal government detained and deported her shopper as a result of he has a tattoo of a football ball with a crown on most sensible, which resembles the emblem of his favourite football crew, Actual Madrid. The tattoo and {a photograph} of Barrios creating a hand signal that suggests “I love you” in signal language are the one two items of proof the federal government has introduced of his gang ties, in line with the attorney.
In the meantime, deported Venezuelan make-up artist Andry José Hernández Romero has a tattoo of a crown on each and every wrist, one with “Dad” and one with “Mom” written subsequent to each and every crown. Immigration government indicated in his record that those tattoos had been “determining factors to conclude reasonable suspicion” of his club within the Tren de Aragua gang. Some executive assets listing crowns as a tattoo not unusual for Tren de Aragua participants, however different executive assets forged doubt on that declare.
The tattoos at the wrists of Andry José Hernández Romero, who says he used to be wrongly recognized as a gang member through the Trump management.
David Alandete/X
Whether or not or no longer the Trump management used tattoos as a sole standards for deportation, I’ve present in my very own analysis that merely the usage of tattoos as any form of standards can lead legislation enforcement off target.
In 2023, I analyzed the reliability of tattoos as markers of gang club within the Washington Legislation Evaluation.
The base line: Whilst many of us in gangs have tattoos that exhibit their club, many of us who’ve completely no gang ties additionally get an identical tattoos.
Depending on them to decide gang club has ended in systematically misidentifying other folks as gang participants – in particular as tattoos have develop into extra standard.
There are some kinds of tattoos that may be particularly deceptive.
Geographic origins
In 2017, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Daniel Ramirez Medina, who used to be lawfully in america beneath the Deferred Motion for Adolescence Arrivals program, or DACA. The federal government tried to strip his standing and deport him, claiming he used to be a gang member because of a tattoo that learn “La Paz BCS.” L. a. Paz is the capital of the Mexican state Baja California Sur, which is abbreviated “BCS.” The one proof of gang club that ICE brokers introduced in immigration court docket used to be this tattoo.
However they lost sight of the truth that tattoos depicting the names or space codes of hometowns or nations of beginning are a not unusual method for other folks to honor the place they got here from.
That is in particular the case for individuals who migrate or transfer clear of their homelands. For instance, tattoos of “503” and “504” – the rustic codes used to dial El Salvador and Honduras, respectively – had been relied upon to allege gang club, whilst many of us who’ve those tattoos deny any gang ties and don’t have any legal data. Legislation enforcement has additionally depended on tattoos of the phrases “Mexican,” “Chicano” or “Brown Pride” as proof of gang club.
Some gangs, such because the Mexican Mafia, come with a connection with nationality within the title of the crowd. And within the U.S., side road gangs are ceaselessly based totally in explicit neighborhoods, with many gangs incorporating the town or side road the place they’re based totally into gang names and related tattoos. Because of this, tattoos celebrating a town or nation can most effective result in confusion.
Tattoos of Mayan or Aztec photographs have additionally been used to designate other folks as gang participants, even if those tattoos are transparent expressions of cultural id and don’t essentially have any nexus to gang club. Whilst some gangs do use explicit Aztec symbols to spot participants, it’s just about unimaginable to tell apart a tattoo of cultural or geographic importance from a tattoo indicating gang affiliation.
In relation to Medina, U.S. District Pass judgement on Ricardo S. Martinez, a George W. Bush appointee, ordered that his DACA standing stay in position and that he be secure from deportation as a result of ICE’s “conclusory findings” that he used to be a gang member had been “contradicted by experts and other evidence.” Moreover, an immigration pass judgement on who reviewed all of the proof had already concluded that he used to be no longer in a gang.
Martinez used to be obviously disturbed through ICE’s claims, writing, “Most troubling to the Court is the continued assertion that Mr. Ramirez is gang-affiliated, despite providing no evidence specific to Mr. Ramirez to the Immigration Court in connection with his administrative proceedings, and offering no evidence to this Court to support its assertions four months later.”
Spiritual imagery and popular culture
Tattoos of standard Catholic non secular photographs, such because the Virgin of Guadalupe, praying fingers and rosaries, have additionally been used to label other folks as gang participants, a transfer that may appear to be obviously overbroad.
Whilst some gang participants is also Catholic, no person would even attempt to allege that every one Catholics are gang participants. No less than probably the most deported Venezuelan males had a tattoo of a rosary, at the side of tattoos of a clock and the names of his mom and niece with crowns atop the textual content.
Tattoos have additionally develop into crucial method for other folks to rejoice pop culture. Tattoos of a lady’s lips, as an example, have develop into standard amongst gang participants and non-gang participants alike. Quite a lot of skilled athletes, together with football phenom Lionel Messi, have tattoos in their spouse’s lips. Alternatively, this may be a tattoo legislation enforcement makes use of to categorize other folks as gang participants.
Consistent with the Texas Division of Public Protection, tattoos of stars on shoulders, crowns, firearms, grenades, trains, cube, roses, tigers and jaguars are not unusual amongst participants of Tren de Aragua.
The problem, in fact, is that those symbols also are standard amongst other folks without a connection to the crowd.
Vague method
Working out the issue in point of fact comes all the way down to math. Whilst it can be true that many gang participants have tattoos of the photographs indexed above, additionally it is true that many non-gang participants have an identical tattoos.
The Bayesian mathematical means comes to making inferences about possibilities in accordance with to be had knowledge. The likelihood {that a} gang member has a definite tattoo isn’t the similar because the likelihood that a person who has a definite tattoo is a gang member.
The U.S. executive appears to be wrongfully equating the 2.
Writing in regards to the broader issues of discerning gang club in 2009, sociologist David Kennedy argued that the legislation’s lack of ability to plan regulations “that clearly distinguish a gang and a football team, or a gang member and his mother” means that taking “legal action, based on imprecise language [is] something of a problem.”
This drawback turns into magnified when there’s no due procedure for the accused – which is strictly what came about to the Venezuelan males whisked off to El Salvador.
Some tattoos – like those MS-13 ones – denote gang club extra obviously than others.
Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Photographs
