A tattoo belonging to a self-described “average middle-aged man” from Britain was included in a U.S. government guide on how to identify members of a deadly Venezuelan gang.
Pete Belton, 44, from Derbyshire, England, told the BBC he has no connection to Tren de Aragua (TdA)—whose members are currently being hunted down and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration.
Belton said he was shocked to learn that a picture of his tattoo—a clock face displaying the time and date of his daughter’s birth—was featured in a Department of Homeland Security document on “detecting and identifying” TdA members that was revealed in court filings.
“[It was] a bit strange, bit funny at first,” Belton told the BBC, adding that he’s now worried a family vacation in August could become “a six-month all-inclusive in Guantanamo.”
A reverse image search of the tattoo used in the DHS document traced it back to a 2016 Instagram post by a tattoo artist in the U.K., according to the British broadcaster. The image also featured in a 2024 report from the Texas Department of Public Safety in a report on TdA activity in the United States.
Neither the DHS or Texas DPS have explained how the image ended up in their documents, but in a brief statement, the DHS told the BBC it stands by its intelligence reports, and claimed its assessments “go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media.”
Immigration officials have been issued a points-based scoring system known as the “Alien Enemy Validation Guide” to determine gang affiliation. Tattoos can account for up to four of the eight points required to justify arrest or deportation.
Belton has insisted he has no affiliation whatsoever to the Venezuelan gang and said he is considering canceling his upcoming vacation to the U.S. depending on how the story develops.
He told the BBC: “Hopefully, now they’d realize I’m not a Venezuelan gangster, but I’ve seen crazier things happen in the news recently, so we’re just going to wait and see.”
The Trump administration has deported almost 300 men to a max-security prison in El Salvador after accusing them of being members of gangs including Tren de Aragua.
Among those deported was a Maryland father who the administration admitted was removed from the U.S. due to “an administrative error.” Others were accused of having TdA tattoos, including a man who claims a soccer team tattoo was mistaken for gang affiliation and a makeup artist whose tattoos of the words “mom” and “dad” were reportedly cited as evidence of his alleged TdA membership.
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