(NewsNation) — The Department of Homeland Security has levied new allegations against nearly two dozen accused Tren de Aragua gang members held in Texas as it pushes for their deportation.
In an emergency request for the Supreme Court to lift an injunction keeping the detainees from being deported under the Alien Enemies Act, DHS alleged 23 detainees at Texas’ Bluebonnet Detention Facility barricaded themselves and threatened to take hostages on April 26.
A group of detainees at the same facility made headlines when they arranged themselves to form the letters “S-O-S” in a dirt yard in late April.
Detainees involved in the April 26 incident reportedly used bed cots to build a barricade, covered surveillance cameras and blocked the windows.
According to Joshua Johnson, acting field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the detainees “threatened to take hostages and injure facility contract staff and ICE officers” and “attempted to flood the housing unit by clogging toilets.”
Officials moved the involved detainees to Prairieland Detention Center — roughly 200 miles west — last week, according to Johnson’s official declaration.
“Relocating the detainees to Prairieland was necessary because the organized and coordinated nature of the detainee misconduct threatened the security, safety and order of the Bluebonnet facility and posed a risk to other detainees, staff, contractors and any visitors within the facility,” Johnson said.
The previously unreported barricade incident occurred days before the “S-O-S” message from 30 inmates.
In the filing, DHS called the detainees “terrorists” and a “serious threat” to ICE officers and others. The agency also bashed the media for repeating their “sob stories,” asserting that Tren de Aragua members “rape, maim, and murder for sport.”
According to Reuters, the families of at least seven detainees insist their loved ones are not affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang.