Trump claims a Michael Jordan tattoo is evidence of Venezuelan gang membership

An internal Trump administration document claims that having a Michael Jordan "Jumpman" tattoo and wearing "high-end urban street wear" makes you a likely member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang. The document was recently made public in a federal court case. The case is contesting the Trump administration's deportations of over 200 Venezuelan noncitizens it deems to be TDA members, without any due process, to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

The document, titled "ALIEN ENEMY VALIDATION GUIDE," creates a point system to determine whether a Venezuelan over 14 years of age is a TDA member. Anyone scoring eight points or higher "are validated as members of TDA." Those scoring six or seven can be deemed members of TDA depending on the "totality of the facts."

Some of the scoring system is based on court records. For example, being found by a court to have violated "federal or state law…for activity related to TDA" is worth 10 points. Any court document "identifying the subject as a member of TDA" is worth five points.

But people can also be assigned points based on "Symbolism." Someone with "tattoos denoting membership/loyalty to TDA" is assigned four points.

A separate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document, also filed in federal court, on "detecting and identifying" TDA members, lists the tattoos it claims are associated with TDA. Among them is Jordan's "Jumpman" logo, over his number for the Chicago Bulls, 23.

Of course, many people with Jordan tattoos are not gang members but simply fans of one of the greatest basketball players in history. Notably, the image in the DHS document is not of a gang member but a Jordan fan.

Other tattoos that the DHS claims are associated with TDA gang membership, including crowns, trains, stars, and clocks, are all symbols popular with the general public.

Nevertheless, a crown, star, or Jordan tattoo, according to the court documents, is worth four points. Someone can earn another four points for "dress known to indicate allegiance to TDA." What "dress" indicates TDA allegiance? According to the DHS document, it includes "high-end street wear," "Michael Jordan jerseys," and Jordan sneakers.

Under this criteria, LeBron James, who has a crown tattoo and, like many NBA players, dresses in high-end street wear before games, would be "validated" as a member of TDA. (James would be spared deportation to El Salvador because of his American citizenship.)

Other "symbols" that seem more specific fall apart under scrutiny. For example, the DHS document claims the tattoo "Real Hasta La Muerte," which means "Till Death," indicates allegiance to TDA. But "Real Hasta La Muerte" is the title of a popular album by Anuel, a Puerto Rican reggaeton artist.

That is why other federal government documents obtained by USA Today warn that tattoos are an unreliable way of determining gang allegiances. A 2023 document from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso Sector Intelligence Unit notes that "Chicago Bulls attire, clocks, and rose tattoos are typically related to the Venezuelan culture and not a definite (indicator) of being a member or associate of [TDA]." No tattoo establishes membership in TDA because TDA "doesn’t require its members to get tattoos."

Even if the Trump Administration had a system to accurately identify TDA gang members, it lacks the legal authority to deport them without due process. The Trump Administration claims it has authority under a 1798 law, the Alien Enemies Act. That law, however, is "a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation." It can be invoked only in the context of a "declared war" or "invasion" by "any foreign nation or government." The United States is not at war with Venezuela and the 200 people, whether or not they are gang members, did not "invade" the United States on behalf of Venezuela.

As a result, a federal court has imposed a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the Trump administration from continuing summary deportations. The Trump administration has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

Many Venezuelans were deemed gang members because of their tattoos

Several of the people who were detained and sent to El Salvador without due process do not appear to be gang members at all. According to family members and lawyers of numerous detainees, many do not have a criminal record or any affiliation with TDA, but were sent to El Salvador because of their tattoos.

Among the detainees is former professional soccer player Jerce Reyes Barrios. In 2024, Reyes Barrios participated in “antigovernment demonstrations in Venezuela." According to a statement by Reyes Barrios’ lawyer, he was detained during a demonstration and tortured with electric shocks and suffocation. After he was released, Reyes Barrios, who does not have a criminal record in Venezuela, fled to the U.S. and was detained at the border by immigration authorities in September. In December, he applied for asylum. According to his lawyer, Reyes Barrios was accused of being affiliated with TDA because of his tattoos, which include “a crown sitting atop a soccer ball,” which is similar to “the logo for his favorite soccer team Real Madrid.”

Another detainee is Neri Alvarado Borges. According to his family, Alvarado, who came to the U.S. in late 2023, has no connection to TDA, Mother Jones reported. Alvarado was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in February, and told his boss that an ICE agent said he had been picked up because of his tattoos, which include “an autism awareness ribbon with his brother’s name on it.” Alvarado told his family that he explained his tattoos to an ICE official, who decided he had “nothing to do with” TDA, but another official decided to keep Alvarado detained. He was later sent to El Salvador.

Andry Jose Hernandez Romero also appears to have been sent to El Salvador because of his tattoos, which include the words “mom” and “dad” with crowns above them. Hernandez, who works as a make-up artist, was detained in August 2024 at a port of entry because of his tattoos, according to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filing posted on X by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. Hernandez maintained that he was not affiliated with TDA.

Another detainee was sent to El Salvador despite having legal refugee status, the Miami Herald reported. E.M., who the Herald did not name for safety purposes, was granted refugee status along with his girlfriend in January after they fled Venezuela in fear of government persecution. Upon arrival in the U.S., E.M. was asked about his tattoos, which include a crown and a soccer ball, and was detained on suspicion of being associated with TDA, despite having no criminal record in Venezuela and already having undergone an extensive background check.

One detainee, Frengel Reyes Mota, was sent to El Salvador despite having no criminal record in Venezuela, no tattoos, and no affiliation with TDA, according to his family, the Miami Herald reported. Reyes Mota, who came to the U.S. with his wife and child in 2023, has an ongoing asylum case. In February, he went to an ICE office for a “required check-in,” where he was placed in custody for suspicion of being affiliated with TDA, his family told the Herald. According to the Herald, a DHS document that claims Reyes Mota may be associated with TDA acknowledges that he does not have a criminal record, and incorrectly uses “someone else’s last name in several parts of the document.”

"We're better than this"

Some of these men, who were deported to El Salvador with no due process, may have been used to create propaganda promoting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a video from the prison in El Salvador where the United States is sending deportees. Noem was touring the facility and meeting with El Salvador’s president to discuss increasing deportation flights to the country. Dozens of shirtless, tattooed inmates stood silently facing the camera in a cell behind Noem as she warned anyone coming into the U.S. illegally that “this is one of the consequences you could face.”

https://x.com/Sec_Noem/status/1905034256826408982

Critics have accused Noem of using her tour of the notorious prison as an opportunity to create propaganda, exploiting its inmates as props. The executive director of the Latin American Working Group, a human rights organization, told The Guardian that the prison visit “was a typical gross and cruel display of political theater that we have come to expect from the Trump administration.”

A former spokesperson for DHS under the Biden administration responded to Noem’s video on X: “No American—Republican or Democrat—should accept DHS using [a Salvadoran prison] to sidestep the Constitution. Stripping due process is un-American, full stop. We don’t protect our country by abandoning the principles that define it. We’re better than this.”

In times of war, distributing images and videos of prisoners of war as propaganda — like the video Noem posted — would be a violation of the Third Geneva Convention.