Declassified Spy Memo Exposes False Trump Claims on El Salvador Deportations!

A document disclosed this past Monday by the Trump administration following a request under the Freedom of Information Act substantiated that U.S. intelligence agencies did not endorse President Donald Trump’s March assertion that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was in command of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua—a claim used to rationalize the deportation of numerous migrants to a feared prison in El Salvador.

The memo clarified that “although Venezuela’s lenient conditions allow TDA to function, it is improbable that the Maduro government has a policy of collaboration with TDA, nor is it orchestrating TDA’s movements and activities within the United States.”

Trump’s allegations connecting Maduro to the gang were initially challenged by The New York Times in March, following Trump’s application of the Alien Enemies Act for just the fourth instance in U.S. history. This law authorizes the federal government to expel summarily the citizens of a nation at war or invading the United States.

At that time, the Times reported, based on conversations with officials, that the intelligence findings regarding Tren de Aragua sharply contradicted Trump’s claims. Sources anonymously indicated that the gang was not receiving directives from the Venezuelan leadership.

This report led the U.S. Justice Department to initiate a criminal inquiry into the “selective release of inaccurate” details to the Times, criticizing the publication for its “deceptive” coverage.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also noted in an April memorandum that the department would curtail press freedom protections in investigations of leaks following a report by The Washington Post on the memo that was declassified on Monday. The Post had reported on the document from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in mid-April while it was still classified.

“The declassification confirms that this information should have been made public from the beginning—not utilized as a pretext to hinder the dissemination of information to the press,” stated Lauren Harper, the Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The organization filed the FOIA request necessitating the release of the April 7-dated memo.

The memo also noted a partial dissent from the FBI regarding the intelligence community’s conclusions about Tren de Aragua.

FBI analysts concurred with the overall assessment but believed that “some Venezuelan government officials facilitate [Tren de Aragua] members’ migration from Venezuela to the United States and utilize members as surrogates in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the United States to further what they perceive as Maduro’s objective of destabilizing governments and compromising public safety in these nations.”

The majority of the intelligence community “assesses that evidence suggesting regime leaders are orchestrating or facilitating [Tren de Aragua] migration to the United States lacks credibility,” the memo stated.

Intelligence agencies also indicated in the document that detainees alleged to be gang members might have been inclined “to fabricate stories about their ties to the Venezuelan government in an attempt to shift blame for their offenses and to reduce any potential penalties by offering exonerating or otherwise ‘valuable’ information to U.S. prosecutors.”

Analysts reported that they had not gathered data concerning communications or financial transactions between Venezuelan officials and Tren de Aragua leaders.

“So, abducting individuals off the streets and sending them to a foreign detention center was never warranted by our own intelligence?” questioned the Arkansas Justice Project. “They merely concocted stories to signal to their base. The AEA justification was always baseless, and they were aware of it from the start.”

Following the memo’s release, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stated, “It is appalling that while President Trump and his team strive diligently each day to secure America by deporting these violent criminals, certain media outlets persist in distorting and misrepresenting intelligence assessments to undermine the president’s efforts to protect the American populace.”

Although the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts have prevented the Trump administration from sending additional migrants to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, the ACLU recently requested a federal judge to facilitate the return of all Venezuelans sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center to ensure they receive due process through immigration hearings.

However, judges in cases concerning Trump’s mass deportations under the Alien Enemies Act have yet to challenge the administration’s discredited claims regarding Tren de Aragua and the Maduro government.

Writer and open government proponent Alexander B. Howard commented that the memo’s publication underscores that “sunlight remains the best disinfectant for falsehoods.”