HONESDALE, PA — On April 17, the Philadelphia office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it had  arrested Fermin Eslava-Burgos, a citizen of Venezuela, in a  March 19 raid in Honesdale. 

ICE stated that Eslava-Burgos was arrested as a suspected  member of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, and that he entered the United States without admission by an immigration official. The American Civil Liberties Union  (ACLU), challenging the Trump administration’s removal of Venezuelan individuals, argued that ICE’s identification of gang affiliation relies heavily on unreliable means such as tattoos. 

On the day Eslava-Burgos was taken, ICE agents did not tell onlookers why they took him, just that he was a “bad person” and that he had a specific tattoo. ICE said he will remain in custody pending removal proceedings. 

“The methodology that [ICE] employs for Tren de Aragua membership relies heavily on physical attributes like tattoos, hand gestures, symbols, logos, graffiti and manner of dress,” wrote ACLU. “Experts who study the Tren de Aragua have explained how none of these physical attributes are reliable ways of identifying gang members.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared the Philadelphia ICE office’s release on April 26, adding that the Trump administration has seen the arrests of over 600 members of Tren de Aragua. 

“If you are here illegally and break the law, we will hunt you down, arrest you and lock you up. That’s a promise,” wrote DHS. 

ICE has not identified Eslava-Burgos as charged with any crime. 

The ACLU has filed in federal court to halt the deportation of Venezuelan nationals, which the Trump administration has carried out through the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). 

The AEA allows the government to seize and remove citizens of foreign countries with whom the United States is at war. The Trump administration has claimed Tren de Aragua as a foreign government engaged in irregular warfare with the United States to invoke the AEA. 

The ACLU in its complaint stated that the AEA “cannot be used here against nationals of a country—Venezuela—with whom the United States is not at war, which is not invading the United States and which has not launched a predatory incursion into the United States.”

Two petitioners named in the lawsuit are Venezuelan nationals who fled the country facing threats from Tren de Aragua or from the Venezuelan government, said the ACLU.

Speaking at the Honesdale Borough Council meeting of April 28, Honesdale Mayor Derek Williams said he understood that Eslava-Burgos has been housed in Pike County's detention center, as part of that county's contract with ICE.

Williams had no information as to whether the ICE agents had a warrant, or whether Eslava-Burgos had done anything wrong.

Editor's note: This article has been updated as of 7 p.m. on Monday, April 28 with comments from Mayor Derek Williams.