The Department of Homeland Security claims the tattoos show members of the Venezuelan gang. The tattoo artists they say are more innocent of telling the truth
The Trump administration has repeatedly relied on tattoos to determine whether someone is a member of the frightening criminal group Tren de Aragua in its deportation campaign against Venezuelan immigrants.
but independent Examples of TDA tattoos founded by the U.S. government under the Biden administration include art by British and Indian artists who say their etched tattoos have an innocent meaning. One respects the birth of a child, while the other seems to honor the Australian rock band AC/DC.
The British artist's clock tattoo appears in the Department of Homeland Security in 2024, about “detection and identification” TDA members told the British artists that TDA members told: “It's incredible, it's meaningless.” independent. “I have nothing to do with the Venezuelan gangs, my art has nothing to do with them.”
Other examples used by DHS can be found in online posts dating back to 11 years, suggesting that they are tattoos on various subjects (including crowns, trains, stars, clocks and “Hijos de dios” (meaning “meaning” (meaning “Son of God”) or “HJ”) by searching the internet.
Homeland Security Survey claims tattoos, whose images are taken from the internet and social media profiles of tattoo artists, suggests Tren de Aragua membership (Homeland Security Survey)
“Yes, this tattoo was done by me,” said Vipul Chaudhary, a tattooist in Gujarat, India, whose image was released on Pinterest in 2021 and appears to be the original version of the “HJ” example of DHS.
“The person who got this tattoo is my friend, who lives in Gujarat.”
The briefing is one of eight U.S. government documents obtained by the People's Transparent Group property requested by the Public Records and shared with it independent This will refer to a tattoo is a way for law enforcement to discover potential members or branches of TDA.
After Trump used 18th-century war powers to expel hundreds of alleged TDA members from almost no proper procedures, the documents, under most of Biden's compilation, have now taken on a new weight – after a deal with the president of El Salvador, they placed them in a notoriously harsh giant high-level prison.
Those deported so far include Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a gay makeup artist who has repeatedly denied any connection with TDA, while Neri Alvarado Borges is the autistic-conscious Neri Alvarado Borges who honors his brother.
“Well, you're here because of your tattoo,” an Icefield agent told Borges. “We are discovering and questioning all those with tattoos.”
The alleged member of Venezuelan gang Tren de Alagua was recently deported by the U.S. government and was imprisoned at the Center for Terrorism Incarceration (CECOT) (Secretariat de prensa de la la Presidencia/a Pressidencia/a presentout a Reuters)
Court documents shared by the ACLU show that the Department of Homeland Security is using the Alien Enemy Act Verification Guide to decide who can be deported and assign different point values to various features, including tattoos.
It is not clear whether these documents play any role in the current deportation. However, they are the only public evidence that the tattoo type of DHS is a “instruction” that “probably a member or colleague of the TDA.”
“I can't say whether these specific documents are in the hands of a particular agent at a particular moment. I can say that these documents have been widely circulated in law enforcement and that the explicit purpose of these documents is to identify so-called TDA members,” said Ryan Shapiro, executive director of People's Property.
Experts say TDA, like most Venezuelan gangs, does not use tattoos to signal membership, and there are several documents. independent Apparently warn officers not to rely solely on tattoos.
Three of the four train tattoos from government documents appeared first on a lifestyle blog, giving men the idea of train tattoos (DHS)
“This is an idea extracted from Central America … and has been mistakenly applied to Tren de Aragua,” said Rebecca Hanson, a professor at the University of Florida, who told Venezuela. independent.
While some example photos of tattoos feature actual Venezuelan nationals detained on the U.S. border, others have more obscure origins.
“It seems they just pulled a random image from Google”
Take the carefully detailed arm tattoo of the pocket watch and the dove, which comes from the Instagram page of the tattoo artist in Nottingham, England. In the DHS version, someone manually deleted the artist's watermark.
“The tattoo was done in England to a Caucasian race,” said the artist, who asked to remain anonymous. “It represents the birth of his children and love.”
Screenshot of the clock matches tattoo posted by British Tattoo Artist (DHS) on Instagram in DHS documentation
In the DHS briefing, the tattoo is blurred, but on the artist's Instagram page, it obviously contains the dates of the entire clock face.
The artist calls it a DHS document that links it to TDA membership a “complete distortion” of the meaning of tattoos, saying, “To me, honestly, they just pulled a random image from Google or Pinterest…I'm not satisfied that it uses documents about this in some documents.”
independent It has been confirmed that the man who lets the tattoo live in the UK but rejects his identity out of respect for privacy.
Or with Vipul Chaudhary’s “HJ” tattoo in Indian ink, which appears to be cut and stretched in the DHS briefing.
Vipul Chaudhary says he is a friend of Mo in Gujarat, India
Chaudhary said he had known the owner of the tattoo for two or three years, rather than meaning “Hijos de Dios”, but just a family abbreviation. He told independent.
Meanwhile, according to an article on Pinterest, one of the examples of train tattoos provided by DHS was touched in 2019 by the historic British seaside resort in Revival Tattoos in Blackpool.
Revival did not respond to a request for comment, but this photo provides a clear clue to what the tattoo really means: the logo of the Australian rock band AC/DC, who performed in front of the giant model train during the 2008-10 year world tour.
After close inspection, the band/DC logo is clearly visible on the side of the train (DHS)
Three other train examples included in these documents all introduce Next Luxury in an article on the Male Lifestyle website in 2015, titled “The Man with a Train Tattooed 70.”
DHS’s example of crown tattoos seems to come from the Spanish tattoo creative blog, while one of its “real Hasta la Muerta” examples comes from the Tiktok page of the Colombian tattoo artist, who is actually citing the debut album of the popular Puerto Rican Ricican Reggaeton Arnuel Aaa Aaa.
The source of these photos was first discovered by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Commission, a pro-migration nonprofit organization based in the UK, Arieh Kovler and Bluesky user @itstygrey. The file itself is fThe first report USA Today.
A spokesperson for DHS did not answer independent.
The real Hasta La Muerte is also the name of the popular Reggaeton album (DHS)
Hundreds of deportations with minimal legitimate processes
Files seen independent Trump, who spanned from July 2023 to January 2025, was ahead of the recent announcement of the Foreign Enemy Act of 1798. They are marked in various government agencies such as the DHS, the FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Although some documents are based purely on photos and details of Venezuelan nationals suspected of using TDA links, some contain Internet materials that have no obvious connection to the gang.
In a briefing from the Chicago Field Department of Homeland Security Investigation, its serial number indicates that it was created in 2024, with eight of the nine reference photos from harmless online posts.
It read under the title “Detection and Identification”: “The combination of open source material with the following tattoos depicts TDA members.”
Most documents have little detail on how agents determine certain designs link to TDA. The exception is a summary of the DHS interview with asylum seekers in Venezuela, where the asylum seeker claims to be a senior policeman in his home country who described the tattoo as “the easiest but least efficient way” to discover TDA members.
“These documents make what should have been obvious: justification of these deportations is a strategy to disguise localism and cruelty as forces in national security,” Shapiro said in People's Property.
On the Department of Homeland Security’s Alien Enemy scorecard, tattoos related to gang members are worth four points, while outfits like “high-end streetwear” or Michael Jordan Gear are counted four. Although some documents explicitly warn that these documents alone are not proof of TDA membership.
According to the guidelines, ICE only needs eight o'clock to determine whether the suspect is a “verified member” of Tren de Aragua and can be deported.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused the DHS of wrongly expelling people without a chance to question their claims, and several judges ordered the cessation of such deportations. Officials acknowledged that at least one prisoner was deported.
“They're very heavy on ordinary tattoos and gestures, which is inconsistent with what experts say is a reliable way to determine TDA membership,” the ACLU said in the case. independent.
when independent White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt challenged the standards Monday, and she did not object to the document, but said the Department of Homeland Security believes “they use to ensure these people are eligible to be foreign terrorists.”
Then she opened fire at our reporter. “Shame you and shame in mainstream media trying to cover it up [for] These people,” she said.
Other reports by Alex Woodward.
