The Cato Institute took a in-depth look at 50 Venezuelan deportees who Trump sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador. All were legally in the U.S. and never violated any immigration law. They all worked and contributed to the U.S. economy -- in roles including construction laborers, pipe installers, cooks, delivery drivers, a soccer coach, a makeup artist, a mechanic, a veterinarian, a musician and an entrepreneur. Only two of the 50 appear to have had a U.S. criminal conviction of any kind, both for minor drug offenses. U.S. deported 50 Venezuelans with legal status to El Salvador: study A Cato Institute report showed they had legal entry through visas, refugee status or temporary permit. https://www.tampabay.com/news/2025/...ezuelans-with-legal-status-el-salvador-study/ At least 50 Venezuelans who were deported and sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador came to the United States legally and never violated immigration law, according to a new analysis from the libertarian Cato Institute. The report compiled family accounts, along with entry documents and witness testimony, to determine how they crossed into the United States and what likely led to their detention. “The government calls them all ‘illegal aliens.’ But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced U.S. government permission, at an official border crossing point,” the report stated. More than 200 Venezuelans were deported to El Salvador in March following a wave of detentions and executive orders on immigration. Since then, they have had no access to lawyers or the ability to communicate with their families. The records reviewed includes a temporary visa holder and four men who were authorized to travel through the U.S. refugee program. At least 45 scheduled appointments using the CBP One app, through which they were permitted to seek entry. Among those with appointments, 24 were given a permit to enter the U.S. and to stay for up to two years, while the other 21 were detained at the port of entry, according to the study. The Venezuelans were held at the Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum security prison that can hold up to 40,000 people. They were construction laborers, pipe installers, cooks, delivery drivers, a soccer coach, a makeup artist, a mechanic, a veterinarian, a musician and an entrepreneur, the study found. David Bier, director of Immigration Studies at Cato and author of the analysis, said the findings underscore a broader goal not simply to target illegal immigration, but to reduce immigration overall. “It reveals a grave threat to the rights of noncitizens in the United States,” Bier said. “And it may permanently change how people around the world view the United States: not as the land of freedom and rule of law, but a land of arbitrary detention at the whims of its leader like Russia or North Korea.” The Venezuelans were deported under the authority of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime declaration. The detentions are tied to suspicions of gang affiliation, but how those suspicions are formed raises concerns. Immigration officials flagged them as suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang based on tattoos and a point-based system, according to a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed against the Donald Trump administration. The Cato report found that 42 were labeled as gang members primarily based on their tattoos, “which Venezuelan gangs do not use to identify members and are not reliable indicators of gang membership.” “All these legal immigrants denied gang membership, and only two appear to have had a U.S. criminal conviction of any kind, both for minor drug offenses,” Cato wrote in its report. J. Tony Lopez, an immigration attorney in Tampa, said that once a deportation takes place, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically refuses to share further details, leaving families without clarity on their relatives’ whereabouts or status. Two women in Tampahave been unable to get information about their deported Venezuelan partners. One of them, Liyanara Sánchez, recognized her husband, Frengel Reyes Mota, in a video aired two weeks ago by One America News Network. It’s her only proof he’s alive. The other woman, Angela Leal, has not received any news about her boyfriend, Luis Carlos Jose Marcano.
Well, that is one way to get out of a trial. Get the victim, who is an illegal immigrant, deported before it occurs by sending threatening letters in the victim's name to public officials. Of course, the Trump administration merely hopped on this event as part of their anti-immigrant agenda. Man accused of trying to get witness against him deported by writing letters threatening Trump https://apnews.com/article/trump-th...orales-reyes-f90472f31a2209741ebf3866d2f6cef2 A Wisconsin man is facing charges accusing him of forging a letter threatening President Donald Trump’s life in an effort to get another man who was a potential witness against him in a criminal case deported. Prosecutors said in a criminal complaint filed Monday that Demetric D. Scott was behind a letter sent to state and federal officials with the return address and name of Ramón Morales Reyes. Scott was charged Monday with felony witness intimidation, identity theft and two counts of bail jumping. His attorney, Robert Hampton III, didn’t immediately return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment. Immigration agents arrested Morales Reyes, 54, on May 21 after he dropped his child off at school in Milwaukee. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the arrest, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and would “self-deport” to Mexico. The announcement, which also was posted by the White House on its social media accounts, contained an image of the letter as well as a photo of Morales Reyes. But the claim started to unravel as investigators talked to Morales Reyes, who doesn’t speak English fluently, and obtained a handwriting sample from him that was different from the handwriting in the letters, according to court documents. Morales Reyes is listed as a victim in the case involving Scott, who is awaiting trial in Milwaukee County Jail on armed robbery and aggravated battery charges. The trial is scheduled for July. Law enforcement officers listened to several calls Scott made from the jail in which he talked about letters that needed to be mailed and a plan to get someone picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement so Scott’s trial could get dismissed, according to the criminal complaint. He also admitted to police that he wrote the letters, documents said. Morales Reyes works as a dishwasher in Milwaukee, where he lives with his wife and three children. He had recently applied for a U visa, which is for people in the country illegally who become victims of serious crimes, said attorney Kime Abduli, who filed that application. Abduli told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday that she was glad Morales Reyes was being cleared of any involvement in the letter writing. His deportation defense lawyer, Cain Oulahan, wrote in an email Monday night that the main focus now is to secure Morales Reyes’ release from custody and the next step will be to pursue any relief he may qualify for in immigration court. “While he has a U visa pending, those are unfortunately backlogged for years, so we will be looking at other options to keep him here with his family, which includes his three US citizen children,” Oulahan wrote.
Breaking News: Lefty media has just apparently downgraded "Maryland Dad" to "Maryland Man." I think it is related to the multiple charges for child trafficking. I wonder if Senator Scumbag from Maryland will greet him at the airport so that they can go to the lounge and have margaritas again. Maryland man returns to U.S. to face charges after mistaken deportation to El Salvador https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/06/mar...fter-mistaken-deportation-to-el-salvador.html