Trump Admin Deported And Imprisoned Asylum Seeking Migrant Over Soccer Tattoo, Attorney Says to Court

AP Photograph/Alex Brandon

ABC News said on Thursday that an immigration legal professional representing a migrant despatched to a notorious prison in El Salvador with the aid of the Trump administration advised a court on Wednesday that her client had no gang affiliations, prior criminal list, and was legally seeking asylum in the US.

“Linette Tobin is representing Jerce Reyes Barrios, a certified soccer player from Venezuela who protested the Maduro regime in February and March 2024 and was once detained and tortured after one of the vital demonstrations,” wrote ABC’s Armando Garcia, who brought:

Barrios got here to the U.S.-Mexico border legally throughout the CBP One app in September 2024 however has been accused of being a Tren de Aragua, or TdA, member and was once detained at a facility below maximum safety, Tobin said.

Barrios was once reportedly being held in U.S. custody after applying for asylum and had a courtroom hearing scheduled for April 17th. The ABC document provides that Tobin stated her shopper was accused of being a Tren de Aragua gang member as a result of his tattoos, which she claims actually associated to his time on the soccer box. The report introduced:

The Division of Homeland Security has accused Barrios of getting a gang-affiliated tattoo and claimed a photo of him showed him exhibiting gang signs. ABC News has reached out to DHS.

The tattoo in question showed a crown sitting on high of a soccer ball with a rosary and the word “Dios” (God), in keeping with Tobin. A announcement from the tattoo artist established that Barrios chose it as a result of it was just like the Real Madrid soccer group logo, the lawyer mentioned. According to Tobin, those alleged gang indicators have been the hand image for rock and roll and “I love you” in sign language.

Tobin also stated she submitted records from Venezuela that indicated Barrios had no crook checklist in his dwelling us of a and was once employed as a qualified soccer player and kids’s soccer instruct.

ABC delivered that Barrios was once transferred to a detention facility in Texas “round March 10 or 11” and was “promptly deported to El Salvador on March 15.” El Salvador’s mega-prisons are notorious round their world for his or her harsh stipulations.

“Advice and family have lost all contact with him and don’t have any knowledge” as to his whereabouts, Tobin referred to in the courtroom documents. The Trump administration deported tons of of migrants to El Salvador below the Alien Enemies Act as a federal judge paused the deportation flights, some of which had already taken off because the judge ruled.

Former immigration legal professional Aaron Reichlin-Melnick posted Tobin’s statement on X Thursday.

Read the entire ABC Information document right here.

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