The FBI, The Times and the American Civil Liberties Union are All Outraged by the President’s “Invasion of the U.S. by a Criminal Gang”
The intelligence community reported on Feb. 26 that there was no truth to it, according to The Times. The shared assessment was that Venezuela’s government and the gang were adversaries, even though some corrupt Venezuelan officials had ties to some gang members. The gang was disorganized and lacked a centralized command and control.
Since campaigning for his second term, Trump has portrayed Tren de Aragua as a serious threat to American public safety. The Alien Enemies Act was invoked by the administration to quickly deport 137 alleged gang members without giving them a proper due process. The act, which allows the government to remove citizens if there is an invasion into U.S. territory, has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
Immediately afterwards, the planeloads of Venezuela’s citizens were sent to a notorious high-security prison in El Salvador with no due process. Further transfers have been stopped by courts. Citing evidence that some of the men sent there were likely not gang members, the American Civil Liberties Union has asked a judge to order the Trump administration to bring back the Venezuelans for normal immigration hearings.
“It is outrageous that as President Trump and his administration work hard every day to make America safe by deporting these violent criminals, some in the media remain intent on twisting and manipulating intelligence assessments to undermine the president’s agenda to keep the American people safe,” Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said in a statement.
A recently declassified memo shows the US intelligence community doesn’t think that Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro directs a criminal gang in the US. The memo supports the President’s claim that the gang is invading the U.S. The government has relied on this argument to justify the deportation of alleged gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.
The New York Times reported in late March that US intelligence agencies had “circulated findings” in contradiction of the Trump administration’s claims. The Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into what it said was a “selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified” intel about the president’s agenda, and not because of any political motivation.