Did ICE Deport This Guy Over a Real Madrid Tattoo?

On Jerce Reyes Barrios’ arm, there is a tattoo of a soccer ball with a crown and the Spanish word Dios.

Is that proof that Reyes Barrios is a dangerous member of an infamous Venezuelan drug gang, or merely that he’s a fan of the Spanish soccer team Real Madrid?

That’s the sort of question that an immigration court might be able to settle. It won’t get the chance. Reyes Barrios was one of about 200 people deported to El Salvador, without due process, last weekend.

In a sworn statement filed in federal court on Wednesday, an attorney representing Reyes Barrios claims that American immigration officials misunderstood the meaning behind her client’s tattoos and took social media posts out of context in order to justify arresting and ultimately deporting Reyes Barrios.

“Counsel and family have lost all contact with him and have no information regarding his whereabouts or condition,” wrote Linette Tobin, the attorney.

According to Tobin’s statement, Reyes Barrios left Venezuela after being arrested for protesting against Nicolás Maduro’s rule. Upon reaching the U.S. border, he applied for asylum and was being kept in custody ahead of a court hearing that was scheduled for April 17.

A hearing like that is meant to determine whether someone like Reyes Barrios qualifies for asylum—that is, was he fleeing a foreign regime that had arrested and tortured him, as his attorney claims, or was he part of what the Trump administration has called an “invasion” of the United States by the Tren de Aragua gang?

Part of that hearing might have focused on his tattoo of a soccer ball with a crown and the word Dios. Government attorneys could have argued why those symbols might connect Reyes Barrios to the gang and would (one hopes) be expected also to present more significant evidence for why he should be denied lawful entry to the country.

Tobin could then refute those claims with her own evidence. As she explained in the sworn statement filed on Wednesday, Reyes Barrios was a former professional soccer player and a fan of Real Madrid. That explains the tattoo. More importantly, she claims that Reyes Marrios had “a police clearance from Venezuela indicating no criminal record, multiple employment letters, [and] a declaration from the tattoo artist who rendered the tattoo.”

A court could then weigh those claims and come to a decision about Reyes Barrios’ status. That decision might be made with imperfect information and likely would not satisfy everyone—but that should be preferable to the nakedly unjust and inhumane treatment of Reyes Barrios and dozens of others who were on those deportation flights, which appear to have taken off in defiance of a judicial order.

Ignoring the due process rights of asylum seekers might allow the Trump administration to deport more migrants more quickly, but it grants far too much power to immigration police and will inevitably lead to innocent people being caught up in Trump’s effort to deport violent criminals. No one should end up in an El Salvadorian prison because a cop misunderstood a tattoo.

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