ICE List Shows How Tattoos and Clothing Are Used to Label Immigrants as Gang Members

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has obtained a list from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that reveals just how terrifyingly easy it is for the government to designate a Venezuelan immigrant as an “Alien Enemy,” including allowing ICE officers to declare tattoos and items of clothing as containing gang signs.

American Immigration Council Senior Fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick shared on X (formerly Twitter) a copy of the “Alien Enemies Act Validation Guide” on Sunday. The guide outlines a point system ICE can use to deport immigrants it designates as members of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang and send them to the infamously cruel and inhumane Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador. Earlier this month, the administration flew nearly 300 Venezuelans to CECOT because it alleged they were members of TDA despite a court order instructing the government not to deport the immigrants. The administration has appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing judges do not have legal authority to halt its deportations.

The ACLU and Democracy Forward have filed suit against the administration over the deportations, saying they violate the limits of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act and “improperly attempt… to bypass the procedures and protections in immigration law.”

According to the checklist, an ICE official must determine that the immigrant is a Venezuelan citizen older than 14. After that, the guide lays out a point system the agency created with different allegations and point allotments.

Any conviction for violating “federal or state law criminalizing or imposing civil penalties for activity related to TDA” constitutes 10 points. Self-identifying “as a member or associate of TDA verbally or in writing to law enforcement… even if that self-identification to a law enforcement officer is unwitting, e.g., through lawful interception of communications” is also 10 points. Communicating with known TDA members is six points.

A section titled “Symbolism” allots four points for having “tattoos denoting membership/loyalty to TDA” or wearing clothing “to indicate allegiance to TDA.” Social media posts “displaying symbols of TDA or depicting activity with other known members of TDA” get two points. In the “Association” section, merely being in “group photos with two or more known members of TDA” or living with known members of TDA is worth two points.

Eight points or more is enough to classify immigrants “validated as members of TDA.” For example, someone could be given six points for texting with a “known member of TDA” and another three points for sending money to a “known member” of TDA, Reichlin-Melnick pointed out. That totals to nine points, enough for deportation as an alleged TDA member.

The guide notes that if all points are from the Symbolism and/or Association categories, agents should “consult your supervisor and [the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor] before determining whether to validate the alien as a member of TDA.”

But if a supervisor allows it, a Venezuelan adult in the U.S. who has tattoos and clothing an ICE officer says contain TDA symbols could be deported to CECOT for those reasons alone. It’s a scary thought, especially considering the case of Neri Alvarado Borges, a native of Venezuela who ICE sent to CECOT with several dozen other Venezuelans the government accused — without due process — of affiliating with TDA. Alvarado told a friend that an ICE agent told him he was detained “because of your tattoos.”

“We’re finding and questioning everyone who has tattoos,” the ICE agent said, according to what Alvorado said to his friend, who spoke to Mother Jones. Alvarado has a tattoo of an autism awareness ribbon in tribute to his 15-year-old brother who is autistic.

Even though Alvorado said an ICE agent later declared him “clean” after searching his phone and hearing Alvorado’s explanation of the meaning behind his tattoos (the agent reportedly said, “I’m going to put down here that you have nothing to do with Tren de Aragua”) they still sent him to CECOT where he remains.

“With this checklist, ICE can declare any Venezuelan an ‘Alien Enemy’ without ANY concrete evidence — based solely on an ICE officer’s interpretation of tattoos and hand signs, or the bad luck of having a roommate ICE thinks is TDA,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote. “This is why due process matters!”