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Miami Herald
01-08-2025
- Miami Herald
‘Scared to die': Venezuelan who was held in megaprison files complaint against U.S.
He once dreamed of being recognized for his work — but instead, the U.S. sent him to a mega-prison in El Salvador. Branded a gang member and a terrorist, he spent four months behind bars. Now, after his release and return to Venezuela, he's determined to clear his name. Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel was one of more than 250 Venezuelans detained in the United States who was transferred in March to the Salvadoran maximum-security prison known as CECOT, the Spanish initials for Terrorism Confinement Center. 'I was very scared,' Leon Rengel, 27, told the Miami Herald, describing how guards would frequently insult them, calling them trash, scumbags and worse, and often told them they would never leave the prison. 'Even more so when a Salvadoran officer told me I was going to die there or spend 90 years in prison. While I was in CECOT, I never saw a lawyer or a judge. They wouldn't even let me make a phone call.' Read more: 'I have nightmares': Venezuelans imprisoned in El Salvador relive terror after return home The League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC, a Washington-based civil-rights organization, has filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Homeland Security on his behalf, alleging Leon Rengel was deported without reason or due process. The complaint also details the abuses Leon Rengel said he endured at CECOT. 'He was beaten in his chest and stomach by guards, who used fists and batons to inflict pain,' the complaint says. 'On one occasion, he was taken to an area of the prison without cameras, where guards routinely brought detainees to assault them without leaving a video record. There, [Leon] Rengel was viciously beaten.' Leon Rengel told the Herald the Venezuelan detainees were kept in a separate module from Salvadoran detainees that housed 32 cells. He said he was placed in one of the cells with 19 other men, though some detainees were held in cells with fewer people, he said. He said he and his countrymen were 'beaten badly' if they complained about prison conditions. He recounted sleeping on bare metal bunks, stacked four levels high, without bedding or pillows. The two toilets in his cell were entirely open, offering no privacy, he added. He said the only time they were given mattresses and sheets was when authorities came to visit. 'Once the photos were taken and the authorities left, the guards would come and take away the mattresses and blankets,' he recalled. During the 125 days the Venezuelans were held at CECOT, they were not allowed outside once, he said: 'We never saw sunlight.' At one point, during a prison riot, he said, inmates were placed in an area called La Isla, the island, 'to beat us with batons. He described the island as a dark, small punishment room with a circular vent and two cross-shaped bars. The space was meant for two people, Leon Rengel said, but guards crammed in more detainees. 'They brought in several prisoners to beat us. We went more than 24 hours without water or light.' After the beatings, he said, they were taken to get medical care, but a doctor falsified the records, claiming their injuries were from playing soccer, something he says never happened. 'We hardly ever left the cells.' The complaint filed on Leon Rengel's behalf by LULAC in partnership with the Democracy Defenders Fund seeks $1.3 million in damages for violations of his civil rights. 'They gave him a document in English stating he could either be deported to Venezuela or appear before a judge,' said Juan Proaño, CEO of LULAC. 'Leon Rengel chose to see a judge — but he was never given that opportunity. Homeland Security failed to follow due process.' The complaint is the first step before litigation. Homeland Security has six months to respond. If they fail to do so, a lawsuit will be filed in Washington, D.C., Proaño said. Over the past four months, as both Venezuelan and Salvadoran detainees have been held at CECOT, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has denied any allegations of torture inside the mega-prison. Responding to reports of abuse, he said, 'Apparently, anything a criminal claims is accepted as truth by the mainstream media and the crumbling Western judiciary.' When Leon Rengel emigrated to the U.S. in 2023, his goal was simple: to become a well-known barber and showcase his art. But in the heightened immigration crackdown during the Trump administration, he was labeled a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, largely because of his tattoos. He was arrested on March 13, his birthday, in the parking garage of his apartment in Irving, Texas, where he was living with his girlfriend. At the time, he was on a video call with his 6-year-old daughter, Isabella, who lives in Caracas, he said. Four Drug Enforcement Administration patrol cars surrounded him and arrested him, he said, although the agency has never clarified its role. 'They asked me to lift up my shirt, and when they saw my tattoos they accused me of being member of Tren de Aragua. But they never showed any evidence of a connection to the gang,' he said. 'They just laughed while wishing me happy birthday.' U.S. immigration agents have been targeting Venezuelan men based on tattoo images like animals, basketballs or reggaeton lyrics, even in the absence of any criminal record. Experts have said Tren de Aragua doesn't typically use tattoos as gang markers, and relying on them as indicators of gang ties risks serious miscarriages of justice. READ MORE: 'Crime of tattooing': Why experts say body ink is no way to ID Venezuelan gang members 'When I entered the U.S., nobody questioned me about my tattoos or anything related to a gang. It wasn't until after 2024 that I first heard officers mentioning tattoos and the gang,' Leon Rengel said. Records show that Leon Rengel entered the U.S. on June 12, 2023, through the Paso del Norte port of entry on the Mexico-Texas border after a prescheduled appointment on CBP One, a digital portal created by the Biden administration designed to manage the flow of migrants at the southern border. When he was arrested in March, Leon Rengel had been living in the U.S. for 21 months, with a pending Temporary Protected Status application, and was scheduled to appear before an immigration judge on April 4, 2028. He had one arrest in the U.S., in November 2024, for possession of drug paraphernalia — a non-jailable misdemeanor under Texas law. He was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over. According to Irving city records, he later pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and was fined $492. He received no jail time or probation. In a statement issued in April — at a time Leon Rengel's family had no knowledge of his whereabouts — and repeated again in July, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said he had 'entered our country illegally in 2023 from Venezuela and is an associate of Tren de Aragua.' But DHS did not provide any documentation to support the claim or explain why Leon Rengel was sent to El Salvador— especially given that the U.S. and Venezuela have been cooperating in the deportation of Venezuelan nationals directly back to their home country. For weeks after his detention in Texas his family had no idea where he was. He hadn't been returned to Venezuela, where his mother, Sandra Rengel, and three of his four siblings live, nor was his name in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee locator system or even on CECOT records obtained by media outlets. His relatives only learned of his whereabouts on April 23 through media reports, 39 days after he was deported to El Salvador. READ MORE: Weeks after disappearance, DHS confirms Venezuelan man was deported to El Salvador 'The most difficult part was for my mother and daughter, who didn't know where I was — whether I was alive or dead,' Leon Rengel said. 'My daughter suffered a lot. She prayed every day to see me again.' After his detenton in Irving he was briefly held at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas and later transferred to the East Hidalgo Detention Center, a privately run facility used by ICE in La Villa, Texas. Two days later he was deported to El Salvador. Leon Rengel said he and dozens of other Venezuelan detainees were told they were being deported to Venezuela. ICE agents 'never told us we were going to El Salvador,' he said. 'They said we were being sent to Venezuela and even made us lower the airplane window shades. The surprise came when we landed in San Salvador.' On July 18, the United States and Venezuela carried out a wide-ranging prisoner swap. As part of the agreement, 252 Venezuelans who had been deported from the U.S. and held in El Salvador's maximum-security prison were exchanged for dozens of political prisoners and 10 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela — including a Venezuelan-American who had been convicted of committing a triple murder in Spain. Leon Rengel said his only goal in filing the complaint is to clear his name. 'It's unfair they detained us without any evidence of wrongdoing. I have no criminal record in Venezuela or Colombia. All I want is for them to be held accountable for the harm the government did to me.' More than 75 other Venezuelan men that were held in CECOT are preparing similar claims, some of which involve allegations of head trauma, sexual violence and other forms of abuse, according to Proaño, the LULAC executive. 'This claim is too important to ignore,' Proaño said. 'If the Department of Homeland Security can deport Venezuelans without due process, they can do it to anyone — migrants of other nationalities, even U.S. citizens who are mistakenly identified. What's to stop them from sending people to third countries they're not even from?' He added: 'We can't let that become the norm. They need to be held accountable — and that means financial consequences.' Proaño said if the U.S. government is forded to pay '$1 million to each of the 250 people wrongfully deported to El Salvador, that's $250 million. That's a small amount compared to the billions already being spent to deport Latinos. It's the only way they'll learn.' Leon Rengel was born in 1998 — the same year Hugo Chávez rose to power, marking the beginning of Venezuela's unraveling. Growing up in a poor neighborhood of Caracas, his generation faced blackouts, food shortages and the crumbling of institutions. Before moving to the U.S., he spent six years in Colombia with his partner and daughter, maintaining a clean record, according to Colombian authorities. Inspired by friends who had successfully built new lives in America, he decided to emigrate. Now, he regrets that choice. 'If everything changes in the U.S., I'd go back just to visit — to see places I've always dreamed of,' he said. 'But I wouldn't try to build a life there again. This government is destroying the future of many Hispanics, especially Venezuelans.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Yahoo
Weeks after disappearance, DHS confirms Venezuelan man was deported to El Salvador
The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a Venezuelan man arrested in March has finally been solved. But for his family, the news brings little peace. Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel faced the same fate as hundreds of other Venezuelans men who have been deported to El Salvador based solely on tattoos the U.S. government claims indicate affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang, even though experts say that, unlike Central American gangs, TdA does not typically use tattoos to identify its members. READ MORE: 'Crime of tattooing': Why experts say body ink is no way to ID Venezuelan gang members The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to the Miami Herald on Wednesday night that Leon Rengel had been deported to El Salvador. The confirmation came after repeated inquiries to Immigration and Customs Enforcement dating back to April 10. For more than 40 days, Leon Rengel's family searched for him. His girlfriend, Alejandra Gutierrez — the last person to see him — told the Miami Herald that agents arrested him without a warrant in the parking garage of their apartment building in Irving, Texas. 'They asked him to lift his shirt to show his tattoos, and when they saw them, they claimed he was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua,' Gutierrez said. 'They took his documents — and took him away.' Among his documents was the receipt of his application for Temporary Protected Status, for which he applied in December 2024, after living in the U.S. for more than 18 months. His application is still pending, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, even after Homeland Security confirmed he was deported. When asked what charges were brought against Leon Rengel and why he was deported despite having a pending TPS application, DHS responded with a general statement that didn't address the specific details of his case. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that Leon Rengel 'entered our country illegally in 2023 from Venezuela and is an associate of Tren de Aragua,' but did not provide any documentation to support the claim. Records show, however, that Leon Rengel was admitted to the United States in June 2023 through a scheduled appointment with immigration authorities — a process made possible by the Biden-era app called CBP One, which was created to manage the flow of migrants entering from Mexico. The Trump administration announced in early April that migrants who were temporarily allowed to live in the U.S. using the app are now being instructed to leave the country 'immediately,' according to officials. Since January 2023, approximately 936,500 people have entered the country through this process. 'Tren de Aragua is a vicious gang that rapes, maims and murders for sport. President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow foreign terrorist enemies to operate in our country and endanger Americans,' McLaughlin's email said. 'They will always put the safety of the American people first.' Leon Rengel had no violent history and no serious criminal record. In November 2024, he was a passenger in a car that was pulled over in Irving. He was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, a non-jailable misdemeanor under local law. He pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and agreed to pay a $492 fine, according to Irving city records, with no jail time or probation. On the very day Leon Rengel turned 27, March 13, his life was turned upside down. That's the day he was flown to a maximum security prison in El Salvador that has been the target of complaints of human-rights violations. Because his name has appeared no list of those sent to the Central American country, his family had no idea of his whereabouts until well after a month later. Born in 1998, the year Hugo Chávez was first elected, Leon Rengel belongs to a lost generation that grew up in the shadow of Venezuela's collapse. They are living proof of a broken system that forced millions to flee in search of opportunities denied at home. In his search for opportunity, Leon Rengel came to the United States to make a living as a barber, after spending six years in Colombia—where, according to national police, he had no criminal record. But instead of finding the American Dream, he ultimately landed in a mega-prison in a foreign country, branded an alleged gang member — a label his family vehemently denies. 'The news felt like a bucket of cold water. My brother is not a criminal or a gang member,' Nedizon Leon Rengel, one of his brothers, said to the Miami Herald. He added that the hardest part will be breaking the news to their mother, whose health is fragile. The deportations of the hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador followed the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a 227-year-old wartime law used last month to justify targeting Venezuelan migrants by claiming the gang is 'invading' the U.S.. READ MORE: Trump sent these Venezuelans to El Salvador mega prison. Their families deny gang ties. The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the deportation of more Venezuelans to a third country under a wartime-era law. However, court records show that the government continued to deport both Venezuelan and Salvadoran nationals under the same provision as recently as March 31. The identities of some of those individuals remain unknown—just as they were for Leon Rengel's family, who only discovered his whereabouts after media inquiries a response from the Department of Homeland Security. Now, the family is seeking legal counsel in an effort to bring Leon Rengel back home. In a GoFundMe campaign, created by League of United Latin American Citizens, a non profit organization, to raise funds for legal expenses, they wrote: 'ICE wrongfully deported Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel.... We are raising funds to cover legal fees, challenge this injustice, and reunite him with his loved ones. This is about more than one man — it's about justice, human rights, and standing up for all those who should never be 'disappeared' without due process. 'We refuse to let him remain lost in a prison cell far from home. His family is fighting every day to locate him, secure his safety, and win his freedom.' the GoFundMe campaign said. 'We are assembling a legal team and working to have the U.S. and El Salvador return him to his family.'
Miami Herald
24-04-2025
- Miami Herald
Weeks after disappearance, DHS confirms Venezuelan man was deported to El Salvador
The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a Venezuelan man arrested in March has finally been solved. But for his family, the news brings little peace. Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel faced the same fate as hundreds of other Venezuelans men who have been deported to El Salvador based solely on tattoos the U.S. government claims indicate affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang, even though experts say that, unlike Central American gangs, TdA does not typically use tattoos to identify its members. READ MORE: 'Crime of tattooing': Why experts say body ink is no way to ID Venezuelan gang members The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to the Miami Herald on Wednesday night that Leon Rengel had been deported to El Salvador. The confirmation came after repeated inquiries to Immigration and Customs Enforcement dating back to April 10. For more than 40 days, Leon Rengel's family searched for him. His girlfriend, Alejandra Gutierrez — the last person to see him — told the Miami Herald that agents arrested him without a warrant in the parking garage of their apartment building in Irving, Texas. 'They asked him to lift his shirt to show his tattoos, and when they saw them, they claimed he was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua,' Gutierrez said. 'They took his documents — and took him away.' Among his documents was the receipt of his application for Temporary Protected Status, for which he applied in December 2024, after living in the U.S. for more than 18 months. His application is still pending, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, even after Homeland Security confirmed he was deported. When asked what charges were brought against Leon Rengel and why he was deported despite having a pending TPS application, DHS responded with a general statement that didn't address the specific details of his case. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that Leon Rengel 'entered our country illegally in 2023 from Venezuela and is an associate of Tren de Aragua,' but did not provide any documentation to support the claim. Records show, however, that Leon Rengel was admitted to the United States in June 2023 through a scheduled appointment with immigration authorities — a process made possible by the Biden-era app called CBP One, which was created to manage the flow of migrants entering from Mexico. The Trump administration announced in early April that migrants who were temporarily allowed to live in the U.S. using the app are now being instructed to leave the country 'immediately,' according to officials. Since January 2023, approximately 936,500 people have entered the country through this process. 'Tren de Aragua is a vicious gang that rapes, maims and murders for sport. President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow foreign terrorist enemies to operate in our country and endanger Americans,' McLaughlin's email said. 'They will always put the safety of the American people first.' Leon Rengel had no violent history and no serious criminal record. In November 2024, he was a passenger in a car that was pulled over in Irving. He was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, a non-jailable misdemeanor under local law. He pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and agreed to pay a $492 fine, according to Irving city records, with no jail time or probation. World was shattered on his birthday On the very day Leon Rengel turned 27, March 13, his life was turned upside down. That's the day he was flown to a maximum security prison in El Salvador that has been the target of complaints of human-rights violations. Because his name has appeared no list of those sent to the Central American country, his family had no idea of his whereabouts until well after a month later. Born in 1998, the year Hugo Chávez was first elected, Leon Rengel belongs to a lost generation that grew up in the shadow of Venezuela's collapse. They are living proof of a broken system that forced millions to flee in search of opportunities denied at home. In his search for opportunity, Leon Rengel came to the United States to make a living as a barber, after spending six years in Colombia—where, according to national police, he had no criminal record. But instead of finding the American Dream, he ultimately landed in a mega-prison in a foreign country, branded an alleged gang member — a label his family vehemently denies. 'The news felt like a bucket of cold water. My brother is not a criminal or a gang member,' Nedizon Leon Rengel, one of his brothers, said to the Miami Herald. He added that the hardest part will be breaking the news to their mother, whose health is fragile. The deportations of the hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador followed the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a 227-year-old wartime law used last month to justify targeting Venezuelan migrants by claiming the gang is 'invading' the U.S.. READ MORE: Trump sent these Venezuelans to El Salvador mega prison. Their families deny gang ties. The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the deportation of more Venezuelans to a third country under a wartime-era law. However, court records show that the government continued to deport both Venezuelan and Salvadoran nationals under the same provision as recently as March 31. The identities of some of those individuals remain unknown—just as they were for Leon Rengel's family, who only discovered his whereabouts after media inquiries a response from the Department of Homeland Security. Now, the family is seeking legal counsel in an effort to bring Leon Rengel back home. In a GoFundMe campaign, created by League of United Latin American Citizens, a non profit organization, to raise funds for legal expenses, they wrote: 'ICE wrongfully deported Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel.... We are raising funds to cover legal fees, challenge this injustice, and reunite him with his loved ones. This is about more than one man — it's about justice, human rights, and standing up for all those who should never be 'disappeared' without due process. 'We refuse to let him remain lost in a prison cell far from home. His family is fighting every day to locate him, secure his safety, and win his freedom.' the GoFundMe campaign said. 'We are assembling a legal team and working to have the U.S. and El Salvador return him to his family.'
American Military News
23-04-2025
- American Military News
Multiple Venezuelan men arrested by ICE disappeared from system
At least two Venezuelan immigrants who were detained by ICE and deported from the U.S. have completely disappeared, their families said Tuesday. Relatives of Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel, 27, spoke with the Miami Herald, while family and friends of Ricardo Prada Vasquez, 32, told his story to the New York Times. Leon Rengel arrived in the U.S. in June 2023 and was allowed to remain in the country while his immigration case was considered, the Herald reported. But on March 13, ICE agents stopped him at his apartment in the Dallas suburb of Irving and hauled him away. Prada Vasquez was similarly permitted to stay in the U.S. while his immigration case was handled, according to the Times. However, he made a wrong turn from Detroit into Canada in January and was sent to immigration jail. Both families suspect Leon Rengel and Prada Vasquez were on one of three deportation flights on March 15 from the U.S. to El Salvador, where suspected gang members were sent to a mega-prison in the capital city of San Salvador. However, neither Leon Rengel nor Prada Vasquez have any criminal history of gang involvement. Prada Vasquez had no record in the U.S., while Leon Rengel paid a single fine for marijuana possession in Texas, the Herald reported. Both men were no longer listed in the U.S. immigration system, and federal officials confirmed both had been removed from the country. However, family members in Venezuela haven't been able to find either man. A federal judge ruled the El Salvador flights violated the law because the deportees did not receive due process. President Trump's administration was ordered to return the subjects to the U.S. but has ignored the order. ___ © 2025 New York Daily News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
He disappeared after detention. Now ICE is silent on the fate of Venezuelan man
A Venezuelan man has disappeared into the U.S. immigration system. His family is looking for answers. Where is their brother? Where is her boyfriend? Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel, 27, was admitted into the U.S. in June 2023, after crossing the southern border through a scheduled appointment with immigration authorities — part of a digital portal created under the Biden administration to manage the flow of migrants entering from Mexico. In his hand, he carried a phone. In his heart, a mission: to build a future for his 6-year-old daughter, Isabela, still in Venezuela, his family said. Leon Rengel was born in 1998 — the same year Hugo Chávez rose to power, marking the beginning of Venezuela's unraveling. His generation came of age amid blackouts, food shortages and collapsing institutions. For six years, Leon Rengel lived in Colombia, where according to the national police he had no criminal record. In 2023, he took a risk, packed his barber tools and headed north. Once in the U.S., he lived picking up odd jobs, cutting hair, saving money. In Dallas he met Alejandra Gutierrez, also a Venezuelan migrant. They were together for over a year, building a life. They had a dog named Princesa, and he helped Gutierrez raise her daughter. On March 13, his birthday, everything changed. According to Gutierrez, federal agents detained Leon Rengel in the parking garage of their Irving, Texas, apartment, as he was leaving for a hair-cutting gig. 'They didn't have an arrest warrant,' Gutierrez said. 'They asked him to lift his shirt to show his tattoos, and when they saw them, they claimed he was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. They took his documents — and took him away.' That was the last time she saw him. Leon Rengel was briefly held at East Hidalgo Detention Center, a private facility in La Villa, Texas, used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Then — nothing. His alien number, a way to track his whereabouts, vanished two days later from ICE's online system. He disappeared. ICE agents told Gutierrez her boyfriend had been deported to his home country. But the family has searched in Venezuela, and he isn't there, she said. 'I've been to the ICE office. I've contacted the FBI. The DEA. Everyone told me the same thing: He was deported,' Gutierrez said. 'But where to? He never arrived in Venezuela.' It's possible that the Trump administration deported Leon Rengel to a mega-prison in El Salvador, where hundreds of other Venezuelans were sent last month — but there is no official record to confirm it. READ MORE: Administration: 'Many' Venezuelans sent to El Salvador prison had no U.S. criminal record Leon Rengel had no violent history, no serious criminal record. In November 2024, he was a passenger in a car that was pulled over. He was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, a non-jailable misdemeanor under Texas law. He later pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and agreed to pay a $492 fine, according to Irving city records. No jail time. No probation. However, the U.S. government has been targeting Venezuelan men with tattoos, labeling them as suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang — despite repeated warnings from South American gang experts that tattoos are not a reliable indicator of gang affiliation in Venezuela, unlike in Central America, where such markings are common among gang members. Leon Rengel has several tattoos: the names Sandra and Isabela — his mother and his daughter — a barbershop, a tiger and a lion. READ MORE: 'Crime of tattooing': Why experts say body ink is no way to ID Venezuelan gang members In December 2024, after living more than 18 months in the U.S., Leon Rengel applied for Temporary Protected Status and completed his appointment, his girlfriend said. His application is still pending, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But TPS is now in limbo. The Trump administration has moved to terminate protections for more than 600,000 Venezuelans — a decision now under legal challenge in federal court. Leon Rengel's future, like that of thousands of others, became collateral in the national debate over deportations. Leon Rengel belongs to Venezuela's lost generation — failed by a collapsing state, abandoned by institutions, and driven out of what was once the wealthiest country in South America. Today, Venezuela is the source of the largest exodus in Latin American history and the second-largest refugee crisis in the world outside of war, with nearly 8 million people displaced. Leon Rengel was one of them. Now, he's gone, swallowed into a system that offers little information about the whereabouts of people in detention or those who have been deported. 'I'm depressed. I can't sleep — I lie awake wondering where he might be,' said his girlfriend. 'To this day, I still don't know why he was even arrested.' His case is not just a tragedy for his family — it may constitute a case of enforced disappearance, a serious violation of international human rights law. According to Amnesty International, rights such as liberty, access to a fair trial, the right to seek asylum, legal defense and protection from torture or enforced disappearance are not privileges — they are obligations that governments are required to uphold at all times. Leon Rengel's family, from Caracas, has been deeply affected by his detention and disappearance. 'My mother suffered a stroke last year, and now her health is even more fragile. She's overwhelmed with worry. We all are,' said Nedizon Leon Rengel, one of his brothers, who described Nieyerver as an outgoing person, a sportsman who played baseball. It has been more than a month since the first deportation flights from the United States to El Salvador carried more than 200 Venezuelan men, accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Among them were a man with refugee status, an asylum seeker, a makeup artist, a soccer player — and many others whose lives were reduced to suspicion and silence. READ MORE: Despite refugee status in the U.S., young Venezuelan was deported to Salvadoran prison The deportations followed the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a 227-year-old wartime law used last month to justify targeting Venezuelan migrants by claiming the gang is 'invading' the U.S.. The U.S. Supreme court has blocked, for the time being, the deportation of more Venezuelans to a third country using the wartime law. At least some families have confirmation that their loved ones are being held in a mega-prison in Central America, after a list of 238 names was made public by CBS News. Leon Rengel's name is not on it — the only publicly available list about the fate of hundreds of Venezuelans deported to a third country. There have been at least three deportation flights to El Salvador from the U.S. The first carried 238 Venezuelans, with subsequent flights deporting additional individuals — though the exact total remains unclear. While the U.S. government has confirmed more recent deportations, it has not disclosed how many or provided details. On March 31, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that '17 criminals from the Tren de Aragua and MS-13' had been deported to El Salvador the day before — without specifying how many were from each gang or country. Over the past weekend, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele made headlines by proposing the transfer of 252 Venezuelans detained in the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo — the Terrorism Confinement Center, known by its Spanish initials, CECOT — back to Venezuela in exchange for political prisoners held by the Caracas regime. The proposal has sparked outrage among human rights advocates in Venezuela, who condemned it as a thinly veiled political trade. Many argue that it mirrors tactics used by the Maduro regime, which has a long history of treating political prisoners as bargaining chips. The U.S. government claims the individuals sent to El Salvador are gang members, yet the identities of many of the deportees remain undisclosed, leaving families in uncertainty. While the names of those deported on the first flight have been made public, the identities of the Venezuelan men deported on the subsequent flights have not been revealed. If Leon Rengel was among them, no one knows. The Miami Herald requested information from ICE on April 10 regarding Leon Rengel's arrest and deportation, but has yet to receive a response. 'His human rights are being violated. We don't know where he is. We don't even know if he's safe,' his brother said. With Venezuela's consular services in Miami closed since 2012 under the Chávez government, and diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Venezuela severed in 2019 under Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan nationals in the U.S. face significant additional hardships. The lack of diplomatic coordination not only complicates deportation procedures, but also leaves Venezuelans with little to no protection, accountability or advocacy from their own government. As of April 14, there have been 10 deportation flights from the United States to Venezuela carrying 1,694 Venezuelans, including 94 women and 2 children. In addition, three flights from Mexico have returned more than 866 Venezuelans to their home country — bringing the total number of Venezuelans deported to 2,580, according to data provided by Votoscopio, a Venezuelan nonprofit organization. The data on Venezuelans deported to their home country does not specify whether the individuals were suspected of affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang or had criminal records in the United States, information the Maduro regime has not disclosed. Leon Rengel's family has looked in Venezuela among those who arrived on those flights seeking answers, but they say he is not in his home country. And for those who love him, the silence has become unbearable. 'Some days, I wake up with hope — that we'll finally find out where he is. That we'll hear his voice. That we'll get some kind of answer,' said his brother Nedizon. 'But other days, it's hard to hold on. I feel hopeless'
