Trump’s Bizarre Plan Would Deport People With Michael Jordan Tattoos
The administration released an “Alien Enemy Validation Guide” that connected Jordan’s merch to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Michael Jordan’s signature “jump man” logo has been flagged as one of the symbols the Trump administration is linking to Venezuelan gang members.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials identified “alien enemies” by singling out those wearing Jordan’s signature “23″ number or clothes related to his former team, the Chicago Bulls, as potentially being members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang.
Michael Jordan’s signature “jump man” logo has been flagged as one of the symbols the Trump administration is linking to Venezuelan gang members.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials identified “alien enemies” by singling out those wearing Jordan’s signature “23″ number or clothes related to his former team, the Chicago Bulls, as potentially being members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang.
The U.S. government ahs flagged a number of tattoos as potential TdA links.Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Chicago Field Division
The “Alien Enemy Validation Guide,” checklist aims to tell ICE whether or not the individual should be deported under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used statue that Trump invoked to justify mass deportations. But lawyers are pushing back on the “unfair” criteria and urging a federal judge to extend his block on the wartime law.
The guide identifies TdA members based on a points system. It assigns different values to certain characteristics. Tattoos or “dress known to indicate allegiance to TdA” count as four points. But the guide also puts a red alert on Michael Jordan-esque merch, some of the most widely-sold attire in NBA history.
The basketball legend was largely dragged into it after the guide flagged his classic symbol—a silhouette of a man making a slam dunk over the number 23, which is Jordan’s jersey number—as suspicious.
Individuals are also suspects if they’re donning “high-end urban street wear.” They might “favor the Chicago Bulls basketball jersey,” Jordan jerseys with the iconic “23″ number, or sneakers with the “Jump Man” logo.
Other warnings were put on tattoos of AK-47s or the words “real hasta la muerte,” a widely used phrase that the government translates to “till death” but is often translated as “real until death” and associated with authenticity. Other listed tattoos include trains, stars, and clocks.
Michael Jordan’s famous jersey number was 23.Michael Tullberg/Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
ICE is also on the lookout for “sports attire from U.S. professional sports teams with Venezuelan nationals on them.” Anyone with eight points are “validated” as TdA members, while those with six or seven might be in the gang.
There’s been some pushback. A separate intelligence document from Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso Sector Intelligence and Operations Center noted that “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.”
The signifiers were also deemed unfair by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward Foundation. A Friday filing was made on behalf of five men who are in U.S. custody and facing deportation. It asked District Judge James Boasberg to extend his temporary block on the Alien Enemies Act.
Salvadoran police officers take an alleged member of the TdA gang to prison after he was deported by the U.S. government.Secretaria de Prensa de la Presi/Secretaria de Prensa de la Presi/REUTERS
Immigration officials in Chicago called attention to the flawed reasoning in the guide, indicating that “wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey, especially a Michael Jordan jersey, as a TdA marker—never mind that the Bulls are the home team and Michael Jordan was one of Chicago’s biggest stars.”
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told Bloomberg that the agency “has thorough intelligence assessments to determine if an individual is a member of one of these vicious gangs.”
“These terrorists are a threat to national security and the safety of Americans,” the spokesperson said. “The premise that these individuals are not gang members is based on faulty assumptions.”
The filing comes as the U.S. government faces off with federal judges Trump has called “unhinged” or even a “radical lunatic” for blocking his executive orders. One of the most heated showdowns happened after Trump invoked the 1798 Act on March 15 to fly alleged gang members to an El Salvador prison that holds men the government brands as terrorists, despite Boasberg’s decision.
