President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons recently. And now, it has taken a weird turn. It is targeting people with Michael Jordan tattoos and Bulls jerseys as potential gang members!
According to internal documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are flagging anyone donning Jordan’s iconic “Jumpman” logo or the number “23” as suspicious and they are being linked to Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang.
This isn’t satire. It’s part of what ICE calls the “Alien Enemy Validation Guide.” That is a checklist created to identify individuals for possible deportation under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798; a wartime law that Trump reactivated as the basis for mass deportations. Now, civil rights lawyers are asking a federal judge to keep that law blocked, because they mentioned the criteria to be wildly unfair.
1. An internal Trump doc claims that having a Michael Jordan “Jumpman” tattoo and wearing “high-end urban street wear” makes you a likely member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang.
This kind of “evidence” is used to justify summary deportations to a Salvadoran prison pic.twitter.com/qTBpm75dYh
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 1, 2025
The guide works on a point system. Someone wearing “dress known to indicate allegiance to TdA” earns four points; same for tattoos that resemble “gang symbols.” Alarmingly, that includes Michael Jordan’s globally popular branding.
The basketball icon was pulled into this after the guide red-flagged his logo; a slam-dunking silhouette over the number 23. ICE claims this, along with “high-end urban street wear,” Bulls jerseys, and Jordan sneakers, could indicate TdA affiliation.
Even more, ICE agents are told to look out for “sports attire from U.S. professional sports teams with Venezuelan nationals on them.” Hit eight points, and you’re “validated” as a gang member. Six or seven? You might still be flagged.
They devised an arbitrary point rating system regarding deportation without due process to basically the bowels of hell. I have two tattoos, I would be deported. These people aren’t human. They need to be stopped. @chicagobulls? pic.twitter.com/IpJ1Wl1lN7
— MAGA Cult Slayer🦅🇺🇸 (@MAGACult2) April 1, 2025
Also on ICE’s radar: tattoos of AK-47s, trains, stars, clocks, or the phrase “real hasta la muerte.” Though the government translates it as “till death,” it’s more accurately known as “real until death,” usually a symbol of loyalty rather than gang activity.
But immigration experts and even border officials are pushing back. A separate report from the Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso Sector Intelligence and Operations Center found the associations questionable. They stated, “Chicago Bulls attire, clocks, and rose tattoos are typically related to the Venezuelan culture and not a definite indicator of being a member or associate of the TdA.”
Lawyers from the ACLU and Democracy Forward Foundation are calling out the flawed logic. On Friday, they filed a new request on behalf of five detained men, nd urged District Judge James Boasberg to extend the temporary block on the Alien Enemies Act.
Officials in Chicago spoke in favor. “Wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey, especially a Michael Jordan jersey, as a TdA marker—never mind that the Bulls are the home team and Michael Jordan was one of Chicago’s biggest stars.”
Still, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the strategy, as it told Bloomberg, “These terrorists are a threat to national security and the safety of Americans. The premise that these individuals are not gang members is based on faulty assumptions.”
This legal clash arrives as Trump’s team ramps up efforts to enforce his sweeping deportation plans. On March 15, he invoked the 1798 Act to send suspected gang members to El Salvador’s high-security prisons, even after Judge Boasberg issued a block.
And now? If you’re wearing the wrong jersey, your outfit might be your undoing.
