The debate has largely centered around a fellow named Kilmar Abrego Garcia, largely because his case has captured the headlines and the docket. In continuing violation of Judge Paula Xinis’ order, the government has yet to lift a finger to “facilitate” the return of an alien they renditioned by admitted mistake. The case made a good vehicle for the challenge given an immigration judge’s order that he not be deported to El Salvador was ignored and he was sent there to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Of course, President Trump wasn’t concerned since, in his twisted mind, Abrego Garcia had “MS-13” tattooed to his knuckles, proving the righteousness, if not lawfulness, of the rendition. But as for the rest, the argument has largely taken for granted that the renditioned Venezuelans were, indeed, Tren de Aragua (or MS-13?) gangbangers, and really, who cares whether they were lawfully deported to a Salvadoran torture prison?

Except a study by David Bier at The Cato Institute calls this assumption into serious question. While the government persists in claiming these were “illegals,” it turns out that many were not and the efforts to justify their unlawful rendition by tarring them with the “illegal alien” characterization was facile and false.

The US government not only denied these men due process; it has also generally failed to provide their families, their attorneys, or the public any information about what it alleges these men did to deserve incarceration in El Salvador. In fact, it has never even published a comprehensive list of individuals that it has sent to El Salvador, and it has refused to verify the CBS News list. Journalists have already discovered that the list obtained by CBS News was incomplete.

Moreover, in most cases, the men never knew the “evidence” against them or that they were being removed to El Salvador. Finally, the US and Salvadoran governments won’t allow the men to talk to anyone, so there is no way to interview them directly.

Round up a bunch of Venezuelans. Claim they were all violent criminal terrorists, without names, details or due process, and trust the government when it says it “confirmed” the accuracy and veracity of its claims. Would the government ever lie? Would the government ever be wrong?

The government calls them all “illegal aliens.” But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced US government permission, at an official border crossing point. A Reuters survey of 50 men also placed the proportion of those who entered legally at about half. This isn’t surprising because about half of all the Venezuelans who have immigrated over the past two years came legally as well—either as refugees, parolees, or visa holders. The proportion isn’t what matters the most: the astounding absolute numbers are. Dozens of legal immigrants were stripped of their status and imprisoned in El Salvador.

Many from Venezuela came here as refugees from the Nicolás Maduro regime and were given Temporary Protected Status. The Trump regime has just revoked that status, but that doesn’t change the fact that these Venezuelans entered lawfully under the program that existed for them at the time. They were here legally. They worked here legally. They were legal immigrants until Trump pulled the plug on refugees who thought they were welcome here. But what they were not, and specifically not when they were unceremoniously renditioned to El Salvador, was “illegal aliens.” To be kind to the government, it was wrong about their immigration status.

But what of their being violent terrorists?

The US government asserts that they are “criminal terrorists” who are “confirmed” members of a criminal organization known as Tren de Aragua (TdA). Investigations by the New York Times, Bloomberg, and CBS News have all found that few of the imprisoned men have any criminal record.

While it may be true that people can be bad dudes even if they’ve yet to be convicted, it’s similarly true that they aren’t gangbangers because they were never convicted of any crimes. So what was the basis of the government’s “confirmed” claim that these were violent terrorists?

Most, at least 42, were labeled as gang members primarily based on their tattoos, which Venezuelan gangs do not use to identify members and are not reliable indicators of gang membership. According to court documents, DHS created a checklist to determine that heavily weights “dressing” like a gang member, using “gang signs,” and, most critically, tattoos. No criminal conviction, arrest, or even witness testimony is required.

DHS’s images of “TdA tattoos” include the Jordan logo, an AK-47, a train, a crown, “hijos,” “HJ,” a star, a clock, and a gas mask. But as the American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin Melnick has shown, all of these supposed TdA tattoos were not taken from Venezuelan gang members but rather stolen by DHS from social media accounts that have nothing to do with TdA or Venezuela.

While the suit on behalf of Abrego Garcia continues to spin its wheels and, despite the government’s open contempt toward Judge Xinis’ orders, go nowhere fast, many of the renditioned have almost certainly been condemned to a future of life in an El Salvador torture prison in order to create the appearance that Trump is saving America from the “worst of the worst” and providing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with the opportunity to cosplay her version of the avenging angel of habeas corpus.