My colleague Isabela Dias has new reporting on the men disappeared by the Trump administration to El Salvador: Immigration courts across the United States are abandoning these cases, effectively "erasing" them. Most of these men have no criminal history in the US; others are asylum seekers. From Isabela:
Immigration judges across the country have recently dismissed at least 14 cases of men sent to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act without due process.
One of the cases dismissed was that of Andry José Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist who was seeking asylum because of fear of persecution in Venezuela due to his sexual orientation and political position. US immigration officials interpreted Hernández Romero’s wrist tattoos of crowns with the words “Mom” and “Dad” as a sign of membership in the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, even though experts have repeatedly dismissed tattoos as a reliable identifier of affiliation with the group.
In some cases, immigration judges have ordered these men deported in absentia, despite the fact that their very failure to appear in court is a direct result of the government’s actions.
Everything about this is infuriating, absurd, and heartbreaking—which makes Isabela's dogged reporting even more incredible. Here's Isabela on the innocuous tattoos used as evidence of gang ties; the government's brutal silence as families search for answers; the State Department's disturbing plans for "soft-style ethnic cleansing"; and so much more.
—Inae Oh
P.S. The Trump administration is now turning the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, originally established by the landmark Civil Rights Act, into a “grievance apparatus” for white men. Listen on the latest Reveal.
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