British man’s tattoo is incorrectly linked to the Venezuelan gang in the US government’s document

A tattoo belonging to a person from Derbishir appeared in the document of the US government, which is used to identify members of the notorious Venezuelan gang – despite the fact that the person is unrelated to the group.

Pete Beltan, 44, from Ilkestan says he was shocked by finding a forearm presented in the Document of the Department of Internal Security (DHS), which helps to determine the alleged TRA Aragua (TDA) members, a transnational criminal organization.

“I am just a middle-aged man from Derbishir,” he said BBC Verify.

Mr Beltton said it was “a little strange, a little funny” at first “, but now he is experiencing a family trip, which he booked in Miami with his wife and daughter in August, may” become a six-month holiday in Guantanam. “

Trump administration has already deported hundreds of alleged gang members Salvador’s high safety detention center. Lawyers of some of these deported say they are incorrectly identified as TDA members based on their tattoos.

Mr Beltan’s tattoo – a clock with the date and sometimes birth of a daughter – was included in a set of nine images for “detection and detection” of TDA members. Other tattoos had stars, Crown and Michael Jumpman logo.

“Open source material drew TDA members with a combination below tattoos,” states A document that appeared in court supply.

But the return searches show that several images first appeared on tattooing sites without obvious links to Venezuela or TDA.

One of them cited BBC Verife to Instagram Post from the tattoo artist based in Nottingham, which published about Mr Beltan’s tattoo almost ten years ago.

The image of the DHS document is the worst quality than the Instagram Post, which was shared in 2016, but it is obviously the same hands and has a clock tattoo.

The same image of Mr Beltan’s tattoo also appeared in the report of September 2024 Texas Department of Public Security (DPS) about TDA activity.

The BBC Verify contacted DHS and Texas DPS about the image source but did not receive the answer.

But in an email, DHS said he was convinced of law enforcement exploration and that his “assessments go beyond a simple affiliate tattoos and social media.”

It is unclear how the Mr. BelTan’s tattoo was in US documents, but he is worried that he is related to the gang.

“In my head, I think that when I work in the border force and I saw how I was going, I thought” hey, we have, he’s in the document. “

He presented a few tattoo images to prove it – and he says he has no association with the Venezuelan group.

The US government has not deported anyone on the basis of its tattoos, according to the comments from immigration and customs execution (ICE) Official in the court’s submission last month.

However, court documents show that immigration officials use a system based on points known as “Enemy check” To determine whether someone is connected with the Venezuelan gang.

It includes a table, and, according to the document, eight points in a number of categories can be a reason for arrest or deportation.

Half of these points can be given if “the subject has tattoos denoting friendship or loyalty to TDA”.

The document states that if all eight points come from the symbolism category, which includes tattoos, then you need to hold additional consultations before assigning any TDA member.

Venezuelan journalist Ron Riskes, who wrote a book about the origin of TDA, said that only tattoos are not evidence of membership.

“TDA has no tattoos identifying gangs,” she said.

“To confirm whether a person is a TDA member, the authorities must conduct a police investigation to determine if they have a conviction. Tattooing, their clothes or their nationality are not evidence.”

However, there were cases where the lawyers claim that people were incorrectly identified on the basis of their tattoos and were subsequently deported.

US media They reported a person who, according to the lawyers, was deported from the tattoo, which was inspired by the logo of the club “Real Madrid”.

Another case saw the makeup artist According to his lawyers, he was sent to Salvador after his Crown tattoo with the words “Mom” and “Dad” was used as evidence in the gang, his lawyers said.

Returning to Derbishir, Mr. Beltan says his family was considering canceling his trip to the US because of potential risks, but they are going to keep track of how history is developing.

“Hopefully, they will now realize that I am not Venezuelan gangster, but I have seen how most happen in the news recently, so we will just wait and see.”