nlanard.bsky.social
Reporter at Mother Jones. Previously
@washingtonian and freelancing from Mexico City. Now New York.
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A lot more in the the full article from @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social and I here:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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I'd also encourage you to check out Prieto's public Instagram, which is almost entirely dedicated to his work as a barber.
www.instagram.com/chamitoblessd/
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We asked DHS for any evidence that Prieto and the other five men we interviewed are affiliated with a gang.
It did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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As they went back into the Bluebonnet detention center, Prieto said an ICE officer mocked them and joked about how God had saved them.
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The bus left the detention center and drove for miles. Then, it returned to where it started from.
A last-minute legal effort by the ACLU likely prevented Prieto and about 60 other Venezuelans from being sent to El Salvador.
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Less than 24 hour later, ICE loaded Prieto onto a bus headed for a regional airport in Texas. Prieto believed he was about to be disappeared to El Salvador.
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On April 17, ICE gave Prieto a form saying he was going to be removed from the country (and likely sent to El Salvador) under the Alien Enemies Act as a member of TdA.
The document included no evidence or information about how to contest the gang allegation.
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Prieto and his partner believe he was targeted because of his tattoos—many of which have to do with being a barber.
"There’s no evidence, no crimes—nothing," his partner stressed. "It’s simply because he had tattoos.”
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On March 20, ICE arrested Prieto outside his home. One day later, the agency publicly accused him on social media of being a member of Tren de Aragua.
It provided no evidence to support that. Nor has it since.
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Prieto came to the United States in 2022. He eventually got a work permit and worked as a barber in the Dallas area, where he and his partner were raising her two kids.
Here's his bio from the barbershop.
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Some of that "evidence" is likely a tattoo he has of a pocket watch. ICE has claimed those can be evidence of Tren de Aragua membership, even though experts say the gang doesn't use tattoos.
In Cárdenas' case the meaning of the stop watch is obvious. See below.
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We've spoken with Cárdenas, a relative in the US, and his aunt in Venezuela. They've provided document after document to refute the allegations being made against him.
DHS said nothing when we asked what—if any—evidence they have.
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ICE moved Cárdenas to Bluebonnet detention center earlier this month. Within days it was trying to remove him under the Alien Enemies Act and likely send him to CECOT in El Salvador.
This is him holding up the notice he was given. ICE gave him no information about how to contest the allegations.
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The week ICE arrested Cárdenas, he was training for a promotion he'd just received at his job in the meat department of an H-E-B supermarket in Texas.
Here's a gift card he got from a manager there in recognition of his hard work.
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About six ICE officers staked out his home and arrested him on the morning of March 20.
ICE then blasted out his photo on Facebook and Instagram in posts that accused him of being a gang member. The only "evidence" so far seems to be tattoos that Cárdenas says have nothing to with any gang.
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Omar Cárdenas Martínez came to an official US port of entry in 2023 after making an appointment on the CBP One App.
He said one of the first things he did here was get life insurance and health insurance so he wouldn't be a "burden" on the US. After that, he started working.
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A frantic legal effort by the ACLU and an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court appear to be the only things that saved them from the same fate as the more than 200 Venezuelans sent to CECOT in El Salvador last month. None of whom have been heard from since.
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All six men were sent from the detention center toward a regional airport on April 18—presumably bound for El Salvador.
The top ACLU attorney on the case told us: "In more than 30 years of litigating. I can’t remember a situation that was this urgent or extraordinary."
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To report this piece, we interviewed six Venezuelans targeted under the Alien Enemies Act—all of whom are still detained in Texas.
We also spoke to their relatives, lawyers, and reviewed documents that support the men's claims that they are being falsely accused of gang membership.
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On April 7, the Supreme Court required the Trump admin to provide due process to the Venezuelans it is targeting under the Alien Enemies Act and accusing of being gang members.
This investigation with @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social makes clear that is not happening in any meaningful way.
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The relative says Omar Cárdenas Martínez, pictured below, is being falsely accused of being a gang member.
“He’s a very hard-working guy. Very noble. Very loved,” he stressed. “He hasn’t done anything at all. He is not a criminal, as he is being portrayed. He is completely and utterly innocent.”
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www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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Joe Kent is someone we've been covering for awhile, like these pieces from @nlanard.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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4/ My latest piece building on the reporting with @nlanard.bsky.social about the Venezuelans removed to el Salvador:
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No problem!
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No problem at all!