Venezuelan men wearing Michael Jordan jerseys and sporting tattoos have been unfairly branded as “alien enemy” gang members worthy of deportation, according to lawyers challenging the Trump administration.

Tattoos and clothing are among categories on a checklist that immigration officials use to decide whether Venezuelans belong to Tren de Aragua, or TdA, and should be removed under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the lawyers said in a court filing. The items are included in an “Alien Enemy Validation Guide” that features 20 categories suggesting gang membership, like committing crimes with TdA members or talking on the phone with them.

The filing asks U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to extend his temporary block on using the 227-year-old wartime law in a legal fight that has turned into a high-profile showdown testing the ability of federal judges to limit presidential power. The administration invoked the law on March 15 to fly alleged gang members to an El Salvador prison used to house men that the government brands as terrorists.

Immigration officials in Chicago indicated that “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,” according to the Friday filing on behalf of five men who are in U.S. custody and facing deportation.

Last week, the administration asked the Supreme Court to take up the case after a federal appeals court in Washington ruled against the administration on a 2-1 vote. If allowed to invoke the law, the request would open at least a temporary window for Trump under the wartime statute and would let the administration again ship people out of the country, potentially without giving them a chance to dispute whether they are gang members.

In the Friday court filing, lawyers said the validation guide, part of an ICE Homeland Security Investigations report, assigns point values to different characteristics. Tattoos and “dress known to indicate allegiance to TdA” each count for four points. Migrants with eight points are “validated” as TdA members, while those with six or seven may be in the gang, the filing shows.

Multiple tattoos were described as possible indicators of gang membership, including the “jump man” — an image of Michael Jordan used on his Nike products — trains, crowns and the words “real hasta la muerte,” which the government translates as “till death.” Also included is an image of an AK-47.

A separate intelligence document from Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso Sector Intelligence and Operations Center, however, noted that “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.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Monday the agency “has thorough intelligence assessments to determine if an individual is a member of one of these vicious gangs.”

“These terrorists are a threat to national security and the safety of Americans,” the DHS spokesperson said. “The premise that these individuals are not gang members is based on faulty assumptions.”

Trump’s proclamation earlier this month that green lighted the deportations said that TdA engages in murders, kidnappings and drug trafficking, while conducting “irregular warfare” in the U.S. on behalf of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. The gang, it said, is engaged in a “predatory incursion” in the U.S. requiring use of the Alien Enemies Act.

But experts cited by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward Foundation, which filed the lawsuit, disputed the administration’s methodology for checking TdA status and downplayed the influence of the gang.

Tren de Aragua is a “loose, disorganized group” that Maduro doesn’t control, sociologist Rebecca Hanson wrote in a declaration. “It has no structured presence in the United States, and its members cannot be identified using indicia like tattoos or hand gestures.”

White House border czar Tom Homan said this month that 238 Tren de Aragua members were deported, and the White House said 137 of them were removed under the Alien Enemies Act. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, Robert Cerna, said another 258 people could be affected, including 172 with pending deportation cases who have been allowed to live in the U.S. while their case is decided, 54 in immigration detention, and 32 in criminal custody.

Overnight, 17 more men accused of being members of TdA or the ultra violent MS-13 gang were deported to the Salvadoran prison. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group included “murderers and rapists” who were deported in a counter-terrorism operation. They were flown to Central America aboard a U.S. military C-17 cargo plane.

The Supreme Court case is Trump v. J.G.G., 24A931. The district court case is J.G.G. v. Trump, 25-cv-766, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

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(With assistance from Courtney McBride.)

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