U.S. sent 238 migrants to Salvadoran mega-prison; documents indicate most have no apparent criminal records

CBS News

06-04-2025

Three weeks ago, 238 Venezuelan migrants were flown from Texas to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.
That country's president offered to take them and the Trump administration used a law not invoked since World War II to send them -- claiming they are all terrorists and violent gang members.
The government has released very little information about the men. But through internal government documents, we have obtained a list of their identities and found that an overwhelming majority have no apparent criminal convictions or even criminal charges.
They are now prisoners.
Among them: a makeup artist, a soccer player and a food delivery driver, being held in a place so harsh that El Salvador's justice minister once said the only way out is in a coffin.
The shackled men were forced to lower their heads and bodies as they were unloaded from buses and taken to El Salvador's mega prison, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
Andry Hernandez Romero was among them.
Lindsay Toczylowski: Andry is a 31-year-old Venezuelan. He's a makeup artist. He is a gay man. He loves to do theatre. He was part of a theatre troupe in his hometown.
Lindsay Toczylowski, Andry's attorney, says he does not have a criminal record in the United States or Venezuela. She says he left his home country last year because he was targeted for being gay and for his political views.
Last May, Andry made the long trek north through the Darien Gap to Mexico, where he eventually got an appointment to seek asylum in the United States. At a legal border crossing near San Diego, he was taken into custody while his case was processed.
Cecilia Vega: Did he have a strong asylum case?
Lindsay Toczylowski: We believe he did have a strong asylum case. He had also done a credible fear interview, which is the very first part of seeking asylum in the United States. And the government had found that his threats against him were credible, and that he had a real probability of winning an asylum claim.
But last month Andry did not appear for a court hearing.
Lindsay Toczylowski: Our client, who was in the middle of seeking asylum, just disappeared. One day he was there, and the next day we're supposed to have court, and he wasn't brought to court.
Cecilia Vega: You use the word "disappeared."
Lindsay Toczylowski: Yeah, I use that word because that's what happened.
But Andry did appear in photos taken by Time magazine photographer
Philip Holsinger
, who was there when the Venezuelans arrived at CECOT.
Holsinger told us he heard a young man say: "I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a stylist." And that he cried for his mother as he was slapped and had his head shaved.
By comparing Holsinger's photographs to photos of Andry's tattoos taken by the government, we were able to confirm that this is Andry. His lawyer, who is representing him pro bono, had never seen these photos before.
Lindsay Toczylowski: It's horrifying to see someone who we've met and know as a sweet, funny artist, in the most horrible conditions I could imagine.
Cecilia Vega: You fear for Andry's safety in there?
Lindsay Toczylowski: Absolutely. We have grave concerns about whether he can survive.
In October,
Tom Homan
, who is now the White House border czar, told 60 Minutes the Trump administration's mass deportation plan would start by removing the worst of the worst.
Tom Homan: We're gonna prioritize those with convictions. We're gonna prioritize national security threats. We have to do that. You gotta get the worst first.
But are they the worst? The Trump administration has yet to release the identities of the Venezuelan men it sent to El Salvador last month. We obtained internal government documents listing their names and any known criminal information. We cross referenced that with domestic and international court filings, news reports and arrest records whenever we could find them.
At least 22% of the men on the list have criminal records here in the United States or abroad. The vast majority are for non-violent offenses like theft, shoplifting and trespassing. About a dozen are accused of murder, rape, assault and kidnapping.
For 3% of those deported, it is unclear whether a criminal record exists.
But we could not find criminal records for 75% of the Venezuelans - 179 men- now sitting in prison.
In response to our findings, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said many of those without criminal records, quote "are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters, and more. They just don't have a rap sheet in the u.s."
Border Czar Tom Homan said immigration agents spent hours conducting rigorous checks on each of the men to confirm they are members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang president Trump campaigned on eradicating.
Donald Trump: To expedite removals of the Tren de Aragua savage gangs, I will invoke the
Alien Enemies Act
of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil
But in Andry's case, the only evidence the government presented in immigration court were these pictures of his tattoos, crowns, which immigration authorities say can be a symbol of Tren de Aragua
Lindsay Toczylowski: These are tattoos that not only have a plausible explanation because he is someone who worked in the beauty pageant industry. But also the crowns themself were on top of the names of his parents. The most plausible explanation for that are that his mom and dad are his king and queen.
Cecilia Vega: Could it be possible that there is something that perhaps the government knows that you don't?
Lindsay Toczylowski: I don't think that that is possible. But if it was possible that they had some information, they should follow the Constitution, present that information, give us the ability to reply to it.
A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said on social media that its intelligence assessments "go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos." She said Andry's "own social media indicates he is a member of Tren de Aragua." We went back a decade and could only find photos like these.
Tattoos and social media were also used to link another Venezuelan migrant— Jerce Reyes Barrios — to the Tren de Aragua gang. Immigration court documents include this Facebook post from 14 years ago showing him flashing what officers said was a gang sign.
His girlfriend told us it was all about rock n' roll.
Immigration agents also flagged Jerce's crown tattoo as a gang symbol. But they did not mention the crown is above a soccer ball. Jerce was a soccer player in Venezuela. His lawyer says the tattoo honors his favorite team, Real Madrid, whose logo includes a crown.
Organized crime analysts told us members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang can often be identified by signature tattoos. But Tren de Aragua is different.
Cecilia Vega: Are tattoos a reliable indicator of membership in Tren de Aragua?
Lee Gelernt: No. Expert after expert tells us tattoos are not a reliable indicator of whether you're part of this particular gang.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, is leading the legal challenge against the Trump administration's efforts to send migrants to CECOT.
Cecilia Vega: There are a lot of people who might hear what you're saying and say, "These people don't have papers. They should be deported." To that, you say what?
Lee Gelernt: If they are here illegally and don't have a right to stay, they can be deported back to their home country. If they've committed crimes, they can be prosecuted and perhaps spend many, many years in a U.S. prison. It's not a matter of, "Can these individuals be punished?" It's a matter of how the government is gonna go about doing it. Once we start using wartime authority with no oversight, anything is possible. Anybody can be picked up.
Last month, President Trump did what he had promised on the campaign trail. He invoked a 1798 law called the Alien Enemies Act, which allows the president to remove non-citizens without immigration hearings during times of war or invasion.
Lee Gelernt: Every administration back to 1798 has understood this is wartime authority to be used when the United States is at war with a foreign government. The administration is saying, "Not only are we gonna use it against a criminal organization, but you the courts have no role. You cannot tell us that we're violating the law or stop us."
Cecilia Vega: Does the U.S. even have the legal right to send someone who's been deported from its country to a foreign prison?
Lee Gelernt: The United States does not have that right. You know, I wanna go back to World War II, the last time that any president used this authority. We sent people back to their home country. We didn't send them to a foreign prison. Even during World War II, Germans had the right to contest their designation under the Alien Enemies Act. As one of the judges pointed out in the Appeals Court, Nazis had more process than we're giving to these Venezuelan men.
Before the three planes arrived in El Salvador, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to turn them around. Flight tracking data shows two planes were in the air at the time and one was about to take off from Texas. Instead of turning around, all the planes made a stop at a military base in Honduras. And then, despite Judge Boasberg's verbal and written orders, the
planes all flew
to El Salvador.
Since then, the U.S. government has disclosed very few details about the operation. CBS News published the only
list of all 238 deportees
.
Lee Gelernt: The government is refusing to answer almost every question from the court.
Cecilia Vega: Based on what grounds?
Lee Gelernt: Well, now they've invoked what's called the State Secrets Privilege. They are saying they can't even confirm details about the planes.
We asked a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman what evidence the government has – besides tattoos and social media posts – linking people like Andry and Jerce to Tren de Aragua. She cited "
state secrets
" and "ongoing litigation" as the reasons "DHS cannot comment on these individual allegations."
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who
visited CECOT
last month, declined our request for an interview. At the prison she recorded this video. She was standing in front of a cell packed with Salvadoran gang members - not Venezuelans.
Kristi Noem: Know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.
The Trump administration is paying El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's government $6 million to house prisoners it sends to CECOT. Lawyers and family members of the Venezuelans told us they've had no contact with the men since they arrived.
Cecilia Vega: Do you have any idea how long he might be there?
Alirio Antonio Fuenmayor (in Spanish/English translation): We have no idea.
Alirio Antonio Fuenmayor's younger brother, Alirio Guillermo, was picked up by immigration agents while working as a food delivery driver in Utah. Though he had no criminal record, he was sent to El Salvador last month.
Alirio Antonio Fuenmayor (in Spanish/English translation): He is an innocent person, he has not committed any crime, and he's in a maximum-security prison.
The ACLU's Lee Gelernt has spent decades challenging immigration policies of democratic and republican administrations. But on the fate of the Venezuelan men…
Cecilia Vega: What would you say to these families who are terrified right now about their relatives currently sitting in this prison in El Salvador? Will they ever see them again?
Lee Gelernt: I hope so, but, you know, there's a real danger that they remain there.
Cecilia Vega: You're saying that there are Venezuelans who very well may have no gang ties that are right now in one of the hardest of hardcore prisons in the world that may never get out, they may never see the light of day again.
Lee Gelernt: That's what I'm saying.
Produced by Andy Court, Annabelle Hanflig, Camilo Montoya-Galvez. Associate producers, Katie Jahns Mary Cunningham. Edited by Joe Schanzer.