The British man’s tattoo incorrectly linked to the Venezuelan band in the US government document

A tattoo belonging to a derbishir man appeared in a US government document used to identify members of the notorious Venezuelan band – although the man has no connection with the group.

The 44 -year -old Pete Belton of Ilkeston says he was shocked when he discovered his forearm presented in a Document from the Department of Internal Security (DHS) used to help identify suspected members of Tren de Aragua (TDA), a transnational criminal organization.

“I’m just a middle -aged middle -aged man,” he told the BBC Cerify.

Mr Belton said it was “a little strange, a little funny at first”, but now he is worried that the family trip he booked in Miami with his wife and daughter in August may turn out to be a six-month vacation for all those included in Guantanamo. “

Trump’s administration has already deported hundreds of alleged band members to High Security Prison El SalvadorS The lawyers of some of these deported say they were incorrectly identified as members of TDA based on their tattoos.

G -B Belton’s tattoo – the face of the clock with the date and time of his daughter’s birth – was included in a set of nine images to “detect and identify” members of TDA. Other tattoos included stars, crowns and logo by Michael Jordan “Jumpman”.

“The open code material depicted TDA members with a combination of tattoos below,” states The document that appeared in court documentsS

But the reverse search for images show that several of the photos first appear on tattoo websites, without apparent links to Venezuela or TDA.

One of them has led the BBC to check in an Instagram publication by a nottingham-based tattoo artist who posted Mr Banthton’s tattoo nearly a decade ago.

The image of the DHS document tattoo is worse than the quality of the Instagram post, which was shared in 2016, but is obviously the same hand and is distinguished by the same tattoo on the face of the clock.

The same image of the tattoo of G -N Belton appeared in a September 2024 report. by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for TDA activity.

The BBC checks connects with both US DHS and Texas DPS for the Image Source, but did not receive an answer.

But in the email, DHS said he was confident in the intelligence of his law enforcement and that “his estimates exceed only the band’s tattoos and social media.”

It is not clear how exactly G -B Belton’s tattoo is in the US documents, but he is worried about being linked to the band.

“In my head, I think that if I work in borderline force and saw how I walk, I would think” hey, we have one, he is the one in the document. “

He provided numerous images to the tattoo to prove that this is his – and says he has no connection with the Venezuelan group.

The US Government has not deported anyone solely on the basis of its tattoos, according to comments from immigration and customs law enforcement (ICE) Official in a litigation last monthS

However, court documents show that immigration officials hire a system based on points known as “Guide to Validation of Extraterrestrial Enemy” To determine if anyone is related to the Venezuelan band.

It includes a card with indicators and, according to the document, eight points in a number of categories can be grounded for arrest or deportation.

Half of these points can be given if “an object has tattoos denoting membership or loyalty to TDA”.

The document states that if all eight points come from the category of symbolism, which includes tattoos, then additional consultations must be taken before defining someone as a member of the TDA.

Venezuelan investigative journalist Ronna Risk, who wrote a book on the origin of TDA, said that tattoos alone were not evidence of membership.

“TDA has no tattoos that identify the band,” she said.

“In order to confirm whether a person is a member of TDA, authorities must conduct a police investigation to determine if they have a criminal record. Tattoo, their clothing or their nationality are not proof.”

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

US media have reported a man that lawyers claim to have been deported because of a crown tattoo, which is inspired by the Real Madrid football club logo.

Another case saw makeup artist was sent to El Salvador after the crown tattoo with the words “mom” and “dad” was used by US officials as evidence of a gang membership, according to his lawyers.

Back to Derbishir, Belton says his family has been considering canceling his trip to the United States because of the potential risks, but they will watch how history is developing.

“I hope now that I am not a Venezuelan gangster, but I saw more things happen in the news recently, so we will just wait and see.”