Latest news with #TrenDeAragua
France 24
17 hours ago
- Politics
- France 24
US judges order Abrego Garcia release, block immediate deportation
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was summarily deported in March along with more than 200 other people to a prison in El Salvador as part of US President Donald Trump's crackdown on migrants. His case has become a key test of Trump's hardline immigration policies. Most of those sent to El Salvador were alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Justice Department lawyers later admitted that Abrego Garcia -- a resident of Maryland who is married to a US citizen -- was wrongly deported due to an "administrative error." Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country. He was returned to the United States in June and immediately arrested on human smuggling charges in the southern state of Tennessee. Abrego Garcia's release pending trial has been repeatedly delayed at the request of his lawyers amid fears he would be picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported again. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee ordered Abrego Garcia's release on bail on Wednesday ahead of his January 27 trial date, and a district judge in Maryland simultaneously blocked ICE from immediately taking him into custody. District Judge Paula Xinis said Abrego Garcia should be brought back to Maryland and ordered the administration to provide at least three days notice before attempting to deport him again. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling. "The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can't arrest (Abrego Garcia)... under federal law is LAWLESS AND INSANE," McLaughlin said on X. It was not immediately clear when Abrego Garcia would be released. Federal prosecutors have opposed his release and warned that he may be deported once again if he is released from custody. Abrego Garcia is charged in Nashville, Tennessee, with smuggling undocumented migrants around the United States between 2016 and 2025. He has pleaded not guilty. © 2025 AFP
Reuters
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Venezuelan makeup artist returns home, describes torture during El Salvador detention
CAPACHO, Venezuela, July 23 (Reuters) - A makeup artist who became the face of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants deported by the U.S. to El Salvador's most notorious prison arrived home to his family on Wednesday after what he described as "an encounter with torture and death." Andry Hernandez, 32, and the other detainees returned to Venezuela on Friday as part of a prisoner exchange, after spending four months in El Salvador's CECOT prison, where they and the Venezuelan government allege they were beaten, shot with rubber projectiles, held in dark cells, and served rotten food. "Many of our fellows have wounds from the nightsticks; they have fractured ribs, fractured fingers and toes, marks from the handcuffs, others have marks on their chests, on their face ... from the projectiles," Hernandez told journalists at his home in Capacho, near the Colombian border. U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport the men, who his government accuses of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, without normal immigration procedures. The deportations sparked a legal battle led by civil rights groups. Families and lawyers of many of the men have denied they have gang ties. Hernandez, detained at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration, had an active asylum case when he was deported to CECOT. His case was widely covered in the media. Advocates in the U.S. have voiced concerns that Hernandez, who is gay, faces risks in Venezuela due to LGBTQ persecution. The U.S. alleged Tren de Aragua membership based on his tattoos: crowns on his wrists that read "mom" and "dad." Hernandez denied the allegation. In a video broadcast on state television on Monday, Hernandez alleged sexual abuse by the guards at CECOT, and Venezuela's attorney general has said his office will investigate El Salvador President Nayib Bukele over alleged abuses. Bukele's office has not responded to requests for comment on the alleged torture. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson has referred allegations of mistreatment to El Salvador's government, while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dismissed the allegations of abuse on Tuesday, calling the men "criminal, illegal gang members." Reuters was not able to immediately confirm the abuse allegations. Hernandez's parents, Felipe Hernandez and Alexi Romero, have been anxiously awaiting his return since Tuesday, when he called to say he was on the way from Caracas, some 820 kilometers (510 miles) away. Hernandez said he was most happy to see them and his brother, but was also touched to find out that friends and family held vigils on his behalf and campaigned for his return. "It fills me with so much peace, so much comfort, so much tranquility that I was never alone, from day one. There were many people who worried for me," he said.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
'I'm free now': Venezuelans held in El Salvador reunite with families
CARACAS/VALENCIA/CAPACHO, July 22 (Reuters) - A singer and a barber were among the former Venezuelan migrants who returned to their families on Tuesday, after spending months detained in a notorious prison in El Salvador before being sent back to Venezuela last week. Singer Arturo Suarez was greeted with hugs and tears in working-class El Valle, south of capital Caracas, by his sister, aunt and cousins. He later wiped away tears as he spoke to his wife and daughter, who live in Chile, via video call. "I'm free now, thank God, at last," said Suarez, who was arrested in February in North Carolina while filming a music video. He serenaded a crowd gathered in his family's living room. "I still can't believe it." The Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador from the United States in March, after U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without normal immigration procedures. The deportations drew fierce criticism from human rights groups and a legal battle with the Trump administration. Families and lawyers of many of the men have denied they have gang ties. His wife has said Suarez had gone to the U.S. to boost his emerging music career and that he denied being a member of Tren de Aragua. "I thought of my daughter, I thought of my wife, of my siblings, of my family, I asked for strength to not give up, to not allow myself to die," Suarez told journalists about his detention. "I didn't - because I'm tough, I'm a Venezuelan." Suarez and the other detainees deported to El Salvador from the U.S. were returned to Venezuela on Friday in a prisoner exchange. Since arriving, they have been undergoing medical checks and interviews with officials. Two brothers - Darwin Hernandez, a 30-year-old barber, and 23-year-old house painter Yeison Hernandez - were arrested alongside Suarez in February. They arrived home to their parents and other family members in central Valencia on Tuesday. "I asked God only for freedom, but more than anything that my family also be alive, to be able to leave and be with them like we are now," said Darwin Hernandez, a husband and a father to a six-year-old daughter. Suarez and Hernandez both said guards at the CECOT prison told detainees they would only leave dead, and Suarez said some detainees considered suicide. Their comments tallied with other allegations of abuse made by former prisoners in videos broadcast on state television, including during a program with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday night. Venezuela's attorney general said on Monday his office will investigate El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and other top officials over the alleged abuse. Bukele's office did not respond to requests for comment on the alleged torture, but he said on social media late on Monday that the Maduro government was "indignant" because they realized they no longer held "hostages from the most powerful country in the world," - a reference to ten Americans formerly held in Venezuela who were freed under the deal. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, State Department and White House did not immediately respond to comment requests. Reuters was not able to immediately confirm the abuse allegations. Eighty Venezuelan prisoners - including opposition politicians - held within Venezuela are also supposed to be released in the swap. Judicial NGO Foro Penal said on Monday it had verified 48 releases. The Venezuelan opposition has regularly critiqued the Maduro government for holding activists and others in abusive conditions within Venezuela. Andry Hernandez, a gay make-up artist who was detained at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration, had an active asylum case when he was deported to CECOT. The U.S. alleged gang membership based on his tattoos. His parents were anxiously awaiting him in Capacho, near the Colombian border, on Tuesday. "All this time I've slept badly. My wife would serve me a plate of food and I would wonder 'is he eating?'" said Hernandez's father Felipe. Hernandez, who said he suffered sexual abuse at CECOT in a video broadcast on state television on Monday, was able to call his parents to say he was on his way. His mother, Alexi Romero, says she told him she is waiting with open arms.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
They were freed from a ‘torture prison' in El Salvador. This is their life now
Dozens of Venezuelan men, locked up in immigration detention centers in the United States, were abruptly flown to El Salvador in the middle of the night, shackled and gang walked to a brutal maximum-security prison, heads shaved, and stuffed into jail cells where they lived for more than five months. They weren't allowed to speak with families or lawyers. They never stepped foot outside. On July 18, President Donald Trump's administration announced 252 Venezuelans were freed from El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center and returned to Venezuela, a country many of those men fled to make the treacherous journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, as they reveal traumatizing ordeals and adjust to the whiplash of landing back in a country where many still face significant threats, they are also preparing for the prospect of returning to the U.S. In a remarkable change in the government's position, Trump officials have 'obtained assurances' from Venezuela that these men will be returned to the U.S. to continue their immigration proceedings — marking a chaotic full circle that could land them right back in the American detention centers from where they were deported. Last week's prisoner exchange appeared to mark the end of a months-long legal battle, challenging the president's use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport dozens of alleged members of Venezuela's notorious Tren de Aragua gang. Trump officials had labelled these men 'worst of the worst' criminals, and 'alien enemies', who committed 'warfare' on U.S. soil. Yet the swap has set them free in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro's regime is threatening to expose conditions inside El Salvador's notorious jail. And the Trump administration could be forced to return many of those men back to the U.S., with Venezuela's help. The Department of Justice declined to comment. The administration is still seeking to use the Alien Enemies Act as a tool to rapidly deport immigrants as part of the president's anti-immigration agenda. It will likely be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if Trump can, or if the dozens of Venezuelan deportees will get their day in court. On Monday, Venezuela's attorney general's office said it has opened an investigation into Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for alleged mistreatment and human rights violations against Venezuelans detained in his prison. Video produced by the Venezuelan government includes testimony of men claiming they were shot with pellet guns, beaten, deprived of food, and under constant threat of violence inside CECOT. In his proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act in March, Trump stated that 'all Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of [Tren de Aragua], are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.' But government officials later admitted that 'many' of those men did not have criminal records, and many were in the country with legal permission and scheduled to appear in court on their asylum claims. A top judge in Washington, D.C. had ordered the Trump administration to turn planes around on March 15 after learning in an emergency lawsuit that officials were flying men to El Salvador. The administration resisted, provoking an extraordinary legal battle in which Trump himself demanded the judge's impeachment. Now, after releasing those men back to Venezuela, administration officials have told federal courts handling Alien Enemies Act cases that they are prepared to return them. Last month, District Judge James Boasberg compared their ordeal to a Kafka-esque nightmare. 'Significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those currently entombed in CECOT have no connection to the gang and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations,' Boasberg wrote. Among them was Andry Hernandez Romero, a gay makeup artist who sought asylum in the U.S. before he was arrested, placed in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, and accused of being a member of Tren de Aragua. He fled Venezuela for California in 2024, fearing persecution under Maduro's regime. He has no criminal history or gang ties, according to his family and attorneys. Romero lawfully entered California with an appointment through the CBP One app - a Joe Biden-era program that allowed immigrants to make immigration appointments before reaching the U.S. - but was swiftly transferred to ICE custody, where officials labeled him a security risk because of his tattoos. A photojournalist captured some of the first images of deportees inside CECOT and witnessed a man identified as Romero crying out for help. In the months that followed, immigrant advocacy groups feared the worst. He is now in Venezuela. 'We have been fighting to free Andry, our other clients, and all the men from CECOT for more than four months,' according to Lindsay Toczylowski, president of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which provided legal representation to his family. 'We are incredibly relieved that it appears most of them have been freed from the torture prison the U.S. government sent them to, and potentially may be reunited with family soon,' she said. 'But as an American, and as a lawyer who believes deeply in the rule of law and due process, my heart remains heavy.' Jerce Reyes Barrios, described by his attorneys as a professional soccer player and a youth soccer coach, fled Venezuela for the U.S. after he was arrested and 'tortured' by 'electric shocks and suffocation' for marching in demonstrations protesting Maduro, according to court documents. He registered with the CBP One app in Mexico for an appointment with an immigration officer last year, but was taken into ICE custody in San Diego, where he was accused of being a member of Tren de Aragua, largely based on his tattoos — which include a crown on a soccer ball, a tribute to his favorite club Real Madrid, according to a sworn statement from his attorney. Barrios is also expected to be among Venezuelans freed from CECOT. Neri Alvarado was told by ICE officers that he was arrested in February for his tattoos — one of which is a rainbow-colored autism awareness ribbon with the name of his brother, who is autistic. His relatives watched him walk off a plane in Venezuela after his release from CECOT. Emotional video shows Ysqueibel Yonaiquer Penaloza Chirinos, another Venezuelan immigrant who entered the United States legally with the CBP One app, returning to his family after his release. 'We spent four months without any contact with the outside world,' Arturo Suarez told Venezuelan broadcaster teleSUR following his release. 'We were kidnapped … We got a beating for breakfast. We got a beating for lunch. We got a beating for dinner.' Court hearings in the coming weeks are expected to revisit those legal challenges now that the men are no longer in CECOT. In another Alien Enemies Act case, the Trump administration says it has 'obtained assurances' from Maduro's government that it will cooperate with court orders for Venezuelan citizens to return to the United States, if required. 'The Maduro regime will not impose obstacles to the individual's travel,' Harper said in a sworn statement to Maryland District Judge Stephanie Gallagher on July 18. In that case, a wrongfully deported Venezuelan man identified in court documents as 'Cristian' will be returned to the United States to continue his immigration proceedings 'should he wish to return.' The statement is a remarkable change in the government's position. In April, Gallagher ordered the government to 'facilitate' his release from El Salvador. But when ordered to cough up a status report about his condition, government attorneys essentially only told the court 'we haven't done anything and don't intend to,' Gallagher wrote in court documents. What happens next in potentially dozens of cases depends on dozens of individual and overlapping decisions after months of chaos. Some Venezuelans will file individual lawsuits or seek relief through the current legal cases winding their way through the courts, while 'others may have no desire or pathway to return to the United States, yet may still seek to pursue litigation to hold the Trump administration accountable for what they did,' according to American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. Others may fear reprisals from Maduro's regime. 'While the ultimate outcome of these cases is unknown, at least the men are free for now,' according to Reichlin-Melnick. 'As their stories of what happened in El Salvador become public, pressure will hopefully build for international accountability.'
Reuters
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Reuters
'I'm free now,' says Venezuelan singer held in El Salvador
CARACAS, July 22 (Reuters) - A Venezuelan singer who spent months in a notorious prison in El Salvador returned to his family in Caracas overnight, one of the first of more than 250 former prisoners to arrive home after they were sent back to Venezuela last week. Arturo Suarez was greeted with hugs and tears in working-class El Valle, south of the capital, by his sister, aunt and cousins. He later wiped away tears as he spoke to his wife and daughter, who live in Chile, via video call. "I'm free now, thank God, at last," said Suarez, who was arrested in February in North Carolina while filming a music video. He serenaded a crowd gathered in his family's living room. "I still can't believe it." The Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador from the United States in March, after U.S. President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang without normal immigration procedures. The deportations drew fierce criticism from human rights groups and a legal battle with the Trump administration. Families and lawyers of many of the men have denied they have gang ties. His wife has said Suarez had gone to the U.S. to boost his emerging music career and that he denied being a member of Tren de Aragua. "I thought of my daughter, I thought of my wife, of my siblings, of my family, I asked for strength to not give up, to not allow myself to die," Suarez told journalists about his detention. "I didn't - because I'm tough, I'm a Venezuelan." Suarez and the other detainees deported to El Salvador from the U.S. were returned to Venezuela on Friday in a prisoner exchange. Since arriving they have been undergoing medical checks and interviews with officials. Suarez said the guards at the CECOT prison beat prisoners and told them they would only leave dead. Some detainees considered suicide, he added. His comments tallied with other allegations of abuse made by former prisoners in videos broadcast on state television, including during a program with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday night. Venezuela's attorney general said on Monday his office will investigate El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and other top officials over the alleged abuse. Bukele's office did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters was not able to immediately confirm the allegations. The Venezuelan opposition has regularly critiqued the Maduro government for holding activists and others in abusive conditions within Venezuela.
