Trump sent 50 Venezuelans to prison in El Salvador. They were in the US legally.

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At least 50 of the Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to a prison in El Salvador entered the United States legally, according to a libertarian think tank.

The analysis by the Cato Institute, which favors limited government, contradicts the federal government's assertion that all 240 men they sent to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, were gang members living in the United States illegally.

“They’ve effectively turned these legal immigrants into illegal aliens,” said David Bier, director of immigration studies at Cato and lead author of the May 19 report.

“It’s shocking the extent to which the government has attempted to conceal information about these people," Bier told Paste BN.

Cato found that 50 of the men entered legally into the United States out of about 90 who had known routes of entry into the country. They include construction workers, cooks, delivery drivers, a soccer coach, a veterinarian and a makeup artist.

The White House didn't respond directly to Cato's findings and deferred agency-specific questions to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Illegal aliens removed to CECOT are dangerous criminals and pose a risk to the American public," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "Paste BN should cover the victims of criminal illegal aliens instead of carrying water for the criminals.”

Many of the men entered legally

Among the 50 people who entered legally, one had a tourist visa and four were refugees. Meanwhile, 45 people were permitted entry through the CBP One App, a Biden-era app that allowed migrants to seek asylum outside of the country and schedule an appointment with American immigration officials. The Trump administration has transformed it into a self-deport app.

Of those who used CBP One, 24 people were paroled into the country to live and work legally for up to two years, while 21 others were detained when they turned up for their appointment.

Before arriving in the country, the people were vetted and screened, had advanced permission to enter, and didn't violate immigration law, Bier's review said. Then, the government "turned around and ‘disappeared’ them without due process to a foreign prison.”

No public information confirming criminality

In addition, officials have called the men criminals and members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, though they have publicly provided little evidence of guilt. The Trump administration has cited tattoos they say prove gang ties. Experts say the tattoos offer no confirmation of any allegiance to Tren de Aragua or other Venezuelan gangs.

Few of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT have criminal records, according to analyses by researchers and journalists. Reuters found dozens had active asylum cases. CBS News, which obtained a list of names, couldn't find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans, either in the United States or abroad. The New York Times found little evidence the men had criminal backgrounds.

The families of the legal immigrants denied gang membership, Cato noted.

In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, said many people counted as "'non-criminals' are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters and more; they just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S. Further, every single one of these individuals committed a crime when they came into this country illegally."

Just two of the 50 legal immigrants appear to have had any type of criminal conviction in the United States, both for minor drug offenses:

• Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, 27, who entered using CBP One, had a misdemeanor in Texas for possessing drug paraphernalia, reportedly from a marijuana trimmer found in his coworker’s car, according to NBC News;
• Tourist visa holder Kevin Nieto Contreras, 27, pleaded guilty to a 2023 offense where “a small amount” of prohibited substance was found at a Colorado nightclub, according to the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights.

There is no publicly available information on about one-third of the men sent to CECOT, Cato said. Some information was available for about 85 of the men, but it wasn't clear how they had crossed.

Much of the information, Bier said, has only come through journalists and other outside groups obtaining facts about the men.

Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.