As legal fight raged, ICE buses filled with Venezuelans heading toward airport turned around, video shows
Video from Friday night shows ICE t buses full of Venezuelan migrants headed toward an airport in Texas before abruptly turning around as the Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration must, for now, refrain from deporting Venezuelan men based in the state under the Alien Enemies Act.
Video from Friday night shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement buses full of Venezuelan migrants headed toward an airport in North Texas and abruptly turning around before the Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration must, for now, refrain from deporting Venezuelan men based in the state under the Alien Enemies Act.
At least 28 detainees — most, if not all, understood to be Venezuelan nationals — were placed on buses Friday evening at ICE’s Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, and driven toward Abilene Airport, about 30 miles away.
The motorcade — including at least 18 squad cars from various law enforcement agencies with flashing lights along the North Texas highways — left the ICE facility, with some men on board being told they were being deported to El Salvador and some that they were headed to Venezuela, according to the wife of one of the detainees and two lawyers representing other detainees at the facility. Before they departed, it was not clear what their destinations would be.
The video, obtained exclusively by NBC News, shows the ICE motorcade pass the airport’s exit and then turn around, looping back to return to the Bluebonnet detention facility.
The Trump administration is seeking to deport the men, who it says are members of the Tren de Aragua gang. It remains unclear whether the government has the authority to apply the Alien Enemies Act to gang members outside of a war situation and whether adjudications about gang membership are accurate.
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