The Venezuelana mom says that her son despatched to El Salvador Mega-Priigion from us

In a poor neighborhood of the Venezuelan metropolis of Maracay, the mom of the 24 -year -old Francisco José García Casique was ready for him on Saturday.

18 months had handed since he emigrated to the United States to begin a brand new life, however he had advised her that he was now expelled in Caracas, within the capital of Venezuela, for being illegally within the United States. They had spoken that morning, simply earlier than it ought to begin.

“I believed it was a superb signal that was expelled (in Caracas),” mentioned MyRelis Casique López. She was lacking her son deeply since she left the home.

But it by no means arrived. And whereas watching a tv report on Sunday, Casique was shocked in seeing his son, not within the United States or Venezuela however at 1,430 miles (2,300 km away in El Salvador.

The film confirmed 238 Venezuelani despatched by the US authorities to the terrorism confinement middle, or Checot, a widely known mega-mascile. He noticed males with shaved heads and chains on the fingers and ft, be clearly escorted by closely armed safety forces.

Casique advised the BBC that it was certain that his son was among the many prisoners.

“It’s him. It’s him,” he mentioned, indicating a photograph through which he’s sitting, together with his head bowed, on a jail flooring, a tattoo seen on the arm. “I acknowledge its traits.”

While an official record of names has but to be launched, the household is satisfied that Mr. García was among the many Venezuelans deported to the jail of Salvadoran Supermax, even when a choose from the United States blocked the removals. They additionally declare that it’s harmless.

The Trump administration states that every one deportees are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which has discovered itself within the sights of the White House. The highly effective multinational felony group, which Trump lately declared a international terrorist group, has been accused of intercourse trafficking, medicine of medicine and murders each at dwelling and in the primary cities of the United States.

US immigration officers said that the prisoners had been “rigorously managed” and verified as members of the band earlier than having flown to El Salvador. They mentioned they’d used exams collected throughout surveillance, police conferences or testimonies from the victims to regulate them.

“Our job is to ship the terrorists out earlier than anybody who’s raped or killed,” mentioned the deputy head of the employees of the White House Stephen Miller on Wednesday.

Many of the deportees wouldn’t have a felony information from US, nevertheless, an official of immigration and US customs (ICE) acknowledged within the courtroom paperwork.

Those who’ve felony information embody migrants with arrests with accusations starting from homicide, trafficking of Fenestanil and kidnapping to home invasion and managing a band primarily based on bands, in keeping with the Trump administration.

In the case of Mr. García, his mom disputes that her son was concerned in felony actions. He left Venezuela in 2019, first in Peru, searching for new alternatives corresponding to overlapping financial, political and social crises, they swallowed the nation, he mentioned. He crossed illegally within the United States in September 2023.

Her mom hasn’t seen him for six years.

“It doesn’t belong to any felony gang, neither within the United States nor in Venezuela … it’s not a felony,” mentioned Casique. “What was a barber.”

“Unfortunately, he has tattoos,” he added, satisfied that the roses and the names of the members of the family who adorn his physique have led to his detention and deportation. This is how she and different members acknowledged him from the pictures issued by the deportees to El Salvador.

Several different households have claimed to imagine that the deportees had been erroneously recognized as members of the Tren de Aragua gang as a consequence of their tattoos.

“It’s him,” Caseque mentioned in tears in Maracay, referring to the picture from the jail. “I want it wasn’t him … he did not should be transferred there.”

Mervin Yamarte’s mom, 29, additionally recognized her son within the video.

“I threw myself on the ground, saying that God couldn’t do it to my son,” he advised BBC from his dwelling within the Los Pescadores district of Maracaibo, in Venezuela.

Like Mrs. Casique, denies that her son was concerned within the gang. He had left his hometown and traveled to the United States by way of the hole of Darién, illegally crossing in 2023 with three of his mates: Edwar Herrera, 23 years previous; Andy Javier Perozo, 30; And Ringo Street, 39.

The BBC spoke with their households and mates, who mentioned they’d seen the 4 males within the video and had been now all held within the jail of El Salvador.

Mr. Yamarte’s mom mentioned that her son had labored in a Tortilla manufacturing facility, typically working in 12 -hour shifts. On Sunday, he performed soccer together with his mates.

“He is an efficient younger nobleman. There is an error,” he mentioned.

President Trump invoked a secular regulation, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to expel males with no honest trial within the United States, saying they had been members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

Despite the United States Government Insurances in keeping with which the deportees had been rigorously managed, the transfer had a chilling impact on many Venezuelani and Venezuelani-American within the United States, who worry that using the regulation by Trump might result in a number of Venezuelans accused and shortly deported with out accusation or convictions.

“Of course we’re afraid. We are terrified,” mentioned Adelys Ferro, govt director of the Caucus Venezuelan-American, a protection group. “We need each single member of the TDA you pay for his or her crimes. But we do not know what the standards are.”

“They (VenezeUlans) dwell in unsure occasions,” he mentioned. “They do not know what selections to make – even individuals with paperwork and have been right here for years.”

The issues of Mr. Ferro had been echoed by Brian de la Vega, an vital lawyer and navy veteran of immigration and navy veteran of origin in Florida.

Many of its clients are positioned within the Miami space, together with Doral – a suburb typically given the “Doralzuela” moniker for its massive Venezuelan inhabitants.

“Most of the Venezuelans within the United States try to do the correct factor. They worry to return to their nation of origin,” mentioned La Vega to the BBC. “The important concern for me is the best way they’re figuring out these members. The normal could be very low.”

Many Venezuelan expatriates within the United States – specifically the southern Florida – have been extensively in favor of Trump, who took a troublesome place on the left authorities of the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro that lots of them fled.

But in February, the Trump administration interrupted the non permanent protected state – TPS – for the Venezuelani, who had protected many from deportation. The program formally ends on April 7 and will have an effect on nearly 350,000 Venezuelan residents who dwell within the United States.

“Trump’s speeches have at all times been robust concerning the Venezuelan regime, particularly throughout the countryside,” mentioned La Vega. “I do not suppose individuals anticipated all this.”

Daniel Campo, an American citizen naturalized of Venezuelan origin in Pennsylvania – and ardent supporter of Trump – advised the BBC that whereas he stays agency to help the president, he has some issues concerning the deportations to El Salvador and on the finish of the TPS.

“I actually hope that when they’re doing raid to expel Tren de Aragua, particularly in jail in El Salvador, they’re making very cautious,” he mentioned.

Among these caught unexpectedly on the finish of the TPS and the current deportations there’s a 25 -year -old Venezuelan man who requested to be recognized solely as Yilber, who arrived within the United States in 2022 after a protracted and harmful journey by way of Central America and Mexico.

It is now within the United States, however it’s not certain of what’s going to come later.

“I left Venezuela due to the repression and insyclerity. My Caracas neighborhood had gangs,” he mentioned. “Now I do not know what is going to occur right here.”

Further experiences by Bernd Debusmann Jr in Washington