A new U.S. intelligence assessment has disputed the Trump administration's claims that the Venezuelan government is directing an invasion of the United States by the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, according to people familiar with the matter.
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.
According to the new report, the Nicolas Maduro government in Venezuela has some low-level contacts with Tren de Aragua, yet the gang does not operate at the direction of Venezuela's leader. President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act in mid-March, allowing for the swift deportation of Venezuelan migrants to a Salvadoran prison, proclaiming without evidence that the gang was perpetrating an "invasion" of the U.S. "at the direction" of Maduro's regime.
Under the Act, which is usually reserved only for times of war, the Trump administration sent planeloads of alleged gang members to El Salvador's notorious mega prison despite a judge's order to turn the planes around and afford the detainees an opportunity to challenge their removal through standard legal processes, The Washington Post reports.
The new assessment draws input from the 18 agencies that comprise the intelligence community. The report provided support and extensive sourcing for its assertions, according to The Associated Press. Of the 18 organizations that make up the U.S. government's intelligence community, only one— the FBI— did not agree with the findings.
The Associated Press also highlighted that while it is not uncommon for intelligence agencies to differ in their assessments on matters of great public interest, the latest assessment stands out due to its near unanimity.
When asked about the findings, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence dismissed it as the work of "deep state actors" working in conjunction with the media.
"President Trump took necessary and historic action to safeguard our nation when he deported these violent Tren de Aragua terrorists," the statement said. "Now that America is safer without these terrorists in our cities, deep state actors have resorted to using their propaganda arm to attack the President's successful policies."
The intelligence assessment's findings come as the Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration can use the 1798 wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants— but that migrants must get court hearings before they're taken from the United States.
The Alien Enemies Act was created to give the president wide powers to imprison and deport noncitizens in time of war. Until now, it has been used just three times, most recently eight decades ago during World War II to justify the detention of Japanese-American civilians.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed legal challenges to the Trump administration's use of the law, contends that Trump does not have the authority to use the Alien Enemies Act against a criminal gang rather than a recognized state.
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