US intelligence contradicts Trump claims linking gang to Venezuelan government to speed deportations

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 9:56 AM EDT, April 18, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — A new U.S. intelligence assessment found no coordination between Tren de Aragua and the Venezuelan government, contradicting statements that Trump administration officials have made to justify their invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and deporting Venezuelan migrants, according to U.S. officials.

The classified assessment from the National Intelligence Council, released this month, is more comprehensive and authoritative than an earlier intelligence product released Feb. 26 and reported last month by The New York Times, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the assessment. They were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The new assessment draws input from the 18 agencies that comprise the intelligence community. It repeatedly stated that Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in a prison in Venezuela, is not coordinated with or supported by the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, or senior officials in the Venezuelan government. While the assessment found minimal contact between some members of the gang and low-level members of the Venezuelan government, there was a consensus that there was no coordination or directive role between gang and government.

The assessment provided support and extensive sourcing for those assertions, according to the officials. Of the 18 organizations that make up the U.S. government’s intelligence community, only one — the FBI — did not agree with the findings.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-alien-enemies-act-venezuela-tren-de-aragua-103919f71db9a9e7a9a3de1028585483

[surfered]

1. Those pesky facts keep tearing their ugly heads

It’s a hopeful sign the Intelligence Agencies are still providing facts.

[BoRaGard]

2. "Stop lying, you grifty republicon BS artiste." - US Intelligence

[Marcuse]

3. Heads will roll. Signalgate was one thing but contradicting official alternate facts be treason.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Deadline: Legal Blog-Trump's Alien Enemies Act invocation gets even more dubious with new evidence

A newly declassified memo further cuts against the administration’s case for summary deportations under the wartime law.

Trump’s Alien Enemies Act invocation gets even more dubious with new evidence www.msn.com/en-us/news/n...

— FancyNance(Formerly Nance on X) (@fancynance.bsky.social) 2025-05-06T23:18:29.775Z

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/trump-alien-enemies-act-memo-deportations-rcna205112

Last week, a Donald Trump-appointed judge in Texas deemed the president’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act “unlawful.” Blocking further deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members under that law, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. said the invocation didn’t meet the legal standard demanded by the 1798 wartime law.

In doing so, Rodriguez emphasized that he wasn’t delving into Trump’s factual assertions underlying his invocation, including the claim that the Venezuelan government directs the gang Tren de Aragua’s actions. Even if those claims were true, the judge found, the government still didn’t meet the legal standard, because the alleged conduct didn’t qualify as an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” under the law.

But a newly declassified memo undercuts that factual claim, too, leaving both the legal and factual basis of Trump’s invocation wanting.

The New York Times reported that the memo, released Monday, “confirms that U.S. intelligence agencies rejected a key claim President Trump put forth to justify invoking a wartime statute to summarily deport Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador.” The Times reported that the memo “states that spy agencies do not believe that the administration of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, controls a criminal gang, Tren de Aragua. That determination contradicts what Mr. Trump asserted when he invoked the deportation law, the Alien Enemies Act.”

This latest news comes as another judge, in New York, ruled against Trump’s invocation on Tuesday. Meanwhile, lawyers for people already sent to that Salvadoran prison are seeking their return in a case out of Washington, D.C., while the Supreme Court could weigh in at any time in yet another case on the subject (a different one from Texas).

Ultimately, the justices could need to resolve the underlying legality of Trump’s invocation once and for all. The overall case against it is mounting.

I remain shocked that any competent lawyer would file a petition defending the use of the Alien Enemies Act. The use of this law does not pass the blush test. The judges who have ruled against this law did so based on the fact that it is clear that this law does not apply. Now it turns out that the Federal government knew that the factual claims made with respect to this law were false.

I am hoping that there will be some attorneys who will at least be sanctioned due to the use of this law.