US spy agencies reject Trump claim on Venezuelan gangs: Memo

Relatives of Venezuelan migrants within the US who had been flown to a jail in El Salvador by the US authorities who alleged they had been members of the Tren de Aragua gang, protest exterior of the United Nations constructing in Caracas, Venezuela (Image: AP)

WASHINGTON: US intelligence agencies rejected a claim by President Donald Trump used to justify the deportation of greater than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador, in line with a declassified memo launched on Monday.
The memo by the National Intelligence Council, dated April 7, reveals US spy agencies don’t consider Trump’s claims that the Tren de Aragua (TDA) prison gang is linked to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s authorities.
Trump had used an obscure wartime regulation — the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) — to deport folks he alleged had been members of the TDA to a most safety jail in El Salvador.
“While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the memo learn.
The memo aligned with intelligence findings first reported by the New York Times in March, which mentioned US spy agencies had been at odds with Trump’s claims.
A day after that report, the Justice Department introduced a “criminal investigation relating to the selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified, information from the Intelligence Community relating to Tren de Aragua (TDA).”
“We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump’s agenda by leaking false information onto the pages of their allies at the New York Times,” an announcement attributed to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche mentioned.
Monday’s memo was launched following a request below the Freedom of Information Act by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which offered a duplicate to the Times.
The Supreme Court lifted a decrease courtroom order final month blocking the deportation of undocumented migrants below the AEA, however mentioned they have to be given a possibility to problem their elimination.
The AEA had been final used to spherical up Japanese-American residents throughout World War II.
The Trump administration has despatched greater than 200 alleged TDA gang members to El Salvador, and used photographs of the deportees shackled and having their heads shaved in a most safety jail as proof that it’s cracking down on unlawful immigration.
US authorities have offered little public proof to assist claims that each one the deportees had been members of TDA.
Lawyers have denounced the truth that some deportees had been accused of membership due to their tattoos.