Federal agents have been sweeping up Venezuelan migrants and sending them to a Salvadoran prison based in large part on tattoos depicting stopwatches, Michael Jordan logos and other ink art they claim betrays an allegiance to the Tren de Aragua street gang.
But internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI documents obtained by USA TODAY reveal federal authorities for years have questioned the effectiveness of using tattoos to identify members of Tren de Aragua, also known as TdA.
“Gang Unit collections determined that the Chicago Bulls attire, clocks, and rose tattoos are typically related to the Venezuelan culture and not a definite (indicator) of being a member or associate of the (TdA),” reads a 2023 "Situational Awareness" bulletin on the criminal gang written by the U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s El Paso Sector Intelligence Unit.
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