A tattoo belonging to a man from Derbyshire has appeared in a US government document used to identify members of Tren de Aragua, a notorious Venezuelan gang, despite the man having no connection to the group.
The tattoo is of a clock, and other tattoos listed as evidence of gang membership include mistranslated text and Chicago Bulls fandom tattoos.
When I was a kid, this hippie college student gave me advice about tattoos. He said “never get a tattoo, the government already has too many ways to track and identify you.” When I was in my 20s, I watched a guy get arrested because his tattoos gave him away. He was wanted for a felony but he had used his brother’s identity documents to get a driver’s license. The cops had a database with the tattoos of former inmates, including him. They suspected him but didn’t have enough evidence to arrest him until they saw his tattoos. Tattoos and branding have been used by many governments for centuries to mark convicted criminals. The reason you hold up your right hand in court was originally so they could see your criminal history. It is also where we get the term a “marked man” There is no good reason to get a tattoo and lots of reasons why it’s a bad idea.