04-30-2025, 01:21 PM
Or this couple, which faced not just deportation, but the Salvadorean gulag:
Judge orders release of Venezuelan couple accused of being ‘alien enemies’
Why were the couple thought to be TdA? Well, they’re Venezuelan. That was apparently enough for ICE, and the couple was on the fast-track to El Salvador.
All SOP for ICE these days. But (at least for now), this was too much for a senior judge in Texas, who said:
Better get a new judge. This one’s being difficult.
Judge orders release of Venezuelan couple accused of being ‘alien enemies’
The couple ordered to be released from custody Friday, Cesar and Norelia, fled Venezuela in 2022 and were paroled in the U.S. after crossing the border illegally. (The Washington Post is identifying the couple by their middle names because they have applied for U.S. asylum and have said they fear for their safety if deported to Venezuela.)
… On April 1, the couple received notices terminating their TPS designation because of their alleged “association with a Foreign Terrorist Organization” — namely, the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. On April 16, the couple were taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in El Paso days after they traveled there for a pretrial proceeding over a misdemeanor charge for unauthorized entry into the U.S. in 2022.
Why were the couple thought to be TdA? Well, they’re Venezuelan. That was apparently enough for ICE, and the couple was on the fast-track to El Salvador.
After being detained at the airport, the couple were “repeatedly interrogated, pressured to sign documents and make admissions regarding issues that intertwined with both their criminal and immigration cases, but without counsel present,” according to Friday’s order. The notices designating them as “alien enemies” were provided in English, a language neither of them speaks.
All SOP for ICE these days. But (at least for now), this was too much for a senior judge in Texas, who said:
…in the strongly worded order that representatives for the federal government failed to provide the court with the evidence required to substantiate the claim that the couple “are members of Tren de Aragua” and criticized their “shoddy affidavits and contradictory testimony.”
Federal representatives, Briones said, “have been unable to convince the court by even a preponderance of evidence required, let alone clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence required,” that the two were members of the gang.
Better get a new judge. This one’s being difficult.