The relatives of the recently deported Venezuelan immigrants said they were distressed and surprised to discover that their loved ones were sent to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador after they recognized them in a video of social networks.
Families firmly deny that their relatives are connected to the Venezuelan gang known as the Train of Aragua, a claim that the Trump administration has used to justify its rapid deportations under a rarely used law of 1798, the Alien enemies law. They say that their family members have been falsely accused and attacked due to their tattoos.
The families also said they never expected their loved ones to be sent to a mass prison in El Salvador instead of their country of origin, Venezuela.
The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that it was “confident in the DHS intelligence evaluations about these affiliations of gangs and criminality,” and added that Venezuelan immigrants who were withdrawn from the United States had final deportation orders.
“This administration will not ignore the rule of law,” the statement said.
The relatives of Mervin Yamarte, 29, said they were horrified to see him in a video of social networks that showed the chained men while the authorities dragged them from the planes and shaved their heads in preparation to take them to prison.
Men were sent to the terrorism confinement center, a blockade known for accusations of human rights abuse. Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented issues that include extreme overcrowding and torture in prison.
The video, published by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, states that men were members of deported Venezuelan gangs from the United States.
Anayel Miquelina, a relative of Yamarte, told Telemundo that Yamarte’s mother and wife were distressed when they saw him in the video with the torn shirt and the shaved head.
“They fainted. They started screaming,” he said.
The Trump administration announced deportations this weekend of hundreds of immigrants who alleged that they were members of the gang to El Salvador under the Alien enemies law, which allows the president to deport non -citizens during the war.
In judicial documents, an official with the immigration and customs control said on Monday that many of those who were withdrawn from the United States under the alien enemies law “have no criminal record in the United States.”
The official said that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they raise” and that the government does not have a “full profile” of alleged gang members who were deported to El Salvador.
Yamarte’s family said he had an open asylum case with an audience established for July and that he has no criminal record and that he was not connected with Aragua train.
A control of the criminal records in the city of Irving, Dallas County and the State of Texas, as well as the records of the Federal Court, by NBC News did not find any position or convictions for Yamarte. The National Security Department did not respond to a request for more information on whether it had a criminal record.
“We did not come to harm anyone. It is not fair that due to a tattoo they involve us with a very crooked criminal gang,” said Juan Yamarte, his brother.
Juan Yamarte said that his brother has the same tattoo as a football player he admires and the number 99, the number he has used as a member of a recreational football team. He also has tattoos of his mother and daughter’s names, as well as the date he and his partner began to leave, another brother told Telemundo. None of his tattoos are related to gang, said the family.
Juan Yamarte said his brother had been in the United States for more than a year before immigration officials took him last week in a house he shared with several other people.
“They grabbed him. They handcuffed everything at once when he said: ‘Why do you also take me, if I haven’t done anything?'” He said.
On Monday, Yamarte’s family and others in their hometown, Maracaibo, Venezuela, maintained a protest vigil and a prayer vigil.
Several other families told NBC News who believe they saw their relatives in the video released by El Salvador. They claim that their loved ones have been falsely accused of having gang connections.
“He is a good child. He has never committed a crime; he has no criminal record,” said Fritzgeralth’s sister of Jesus, one of the Venezuelans who says was deported to El Salvador, while crying uncontrollably. “He is young, worker and athlete.”
Jesus’ sister, who asked not to be identified for fear of deportation, said she received a call from her brother, who had been arrested by ICE officials, on Saturday “to say goodbye” because he was going to be deported to Venezuela.
She worried more and more when she did not listen to him, and began to travel the Internet in the hope of finding a clue where it could be. She said she saw him in Bukele’s video, which had gone viral on social networks.
De Jesús, 25, entered the United States through the CBP One application in June, along with three other relatives, his sister said. The three family members were released to the United States immediately, but from Jesus was sent to an immigration detention center in New Orleans, where he remained until he was deported, he said. It is not clear why Jesus was arrested; His family believes that he may have been for his tattoos.
“They stopped him just because he has tattoos,” said Jesus’ sister. “From the beginning, they constantly asked about their tattoos. They would ask him if he was a member of the criminal gang, Aragua Train, and he always said no.”
She said that none of her brother’s tattoos is affiliated with gangs. Some of the most prominent include Rose Art on his neck and arm, an angel in the chest and a tattoo that says “mom” in his chest.
De Jesus had left Venezuela because “collective”, armed paramilitary groups that support President Nicolás Maduro, harassed him and extorted him, said his sister.
Joseph Giardina, a lawyer based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who represents De Jesus in his case of asylum, was surprised to know that his client had been deported to El Salvador. The final audience in its case of asylum was scheduled for April 10.
When Giardina heard that Jesus had been deported, she checked online and saw that her asylum audience was still pending. He thought there should have been a confusion.
“With a pending asylum application and a test, that would not make absolutely any sense,” said Giardina. “I’ve been doing this for years. This is not how it works.”
“It has been in procedures for months. The government has never presented an I-213, which would indicate criminal records. They have never presented any evidence of any type of criminal record,” Giardina said.
Mirelys Casique told Telemundo that his family recognized his son, Francisco García Casique, in a photo published by the Government of El Salvador. She said that while the man in the image looked down, the family was able to identify him due to his tattoos.
“He is not a criminal. He has no criminal record,” he said, he added that if the government was going to deport their son, “they should send him back to his country of origin.”
Trump invoked the alien enemies law this weekend, and on Saturday, a federal judge issued a restriction order that blocked it from using it to justify deportations and ordered any plane that was already in the air to turn around.
In judicial documents, the authorities said three planes left the United States after Trump issued their proclamation, asking questions about the moment of flights and the delivery of custody.
A federal judge who reviewed the case on Tuesday asked the administration with more details about the flights and which immigrants were deported only depending on the Alien Enemies Law.
Since then, the Venezuelan government has publicly condemned the arrest of its citizens in El Salvador and issued a travel warning to those of the United States and who plan to travel abroad.
“We are asking the international community to remain alert against these practices that serve against human dignity and the principles of international rights,” said Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Monday.
