The Venezuelan mother says the son was sent to El Salvador Mega-Prusson by us

In a poor neighborhood of the Venezuelan city of Marakai, the mother of 24-year-old Kazik of Francisco Jose Garcia was waiting for him on Saturday.

It’s been 18 months since he was migrating to the United States to start a new life, but he had told her that he was now deported back to Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, for being in the US illegally. They had spoken that morning, just before he left.

“I thought it was a good sign that he was deported (in Caracas),” recalled Casic Mireilis Lopez. She had missed her son deeply since he left home.

But he never arrived. And as she watched a TV news report on Sunday, Da Kazik was shocked when he saw her son, not in the US or Venezuela, but at 1430 miles (2300 km) in El Salvador.

The shots showed 238 Venezuelans sent by US authorities at the Terrorism Center or Cecot, the famous mega-jazz. She saw men with shaved heads and shackles on her hands and feet, forcibly accompanied by highly armed security forces.

D -Ja Kazik told the BBC that she was sure her son was among the detainees.

“This is him. This is him,” she said, gesturing in a photo in which he was sitting, with his head bowed, on the floor in prison, a tattoo visible on his hand. “I recognize its features.”

While an official name list is yet to be released, the family is convinced that G -n Garcia was among the Venezuela residents deported to Salvadoran Supermax prison, even when a US judge blocks the removal. They also maintain that he is innocent.

The Trump administration says all deported are members of the band Tren de Aragua, who ended up in the crossed of the White House. The powerful multinational crime group that Trump has recently declared a foreign terrorist organization has been accused of sexual trafficking, drug smuggling and murder, both at home and in big cities in the United States.

US immigration officials said the detainees were “carefully checked” and checked as members of the gang before being taken to Salvador. They said they used evidence gathered during observation, police meetings, or victim certificates to check them.

“Our job is to send the terrorists before someone else is raped or killed,” said White House Deputy Chief Stephen Miller on Wednesday.

Many deported do not have criminal records in the United States, but an employee of immigration and customs law enforcement (ICE) recognized in court documents.

Those who have criminal records include migrants with arrests ranging from murder, fentanyl traffic and abduction to a home invasion and the operation of a gang managed by the band, according to the Trump administration.

In the case of G -n Garcia, his mother challenged that her son was involved in criminal activity. He left Venezuela in 2019, first to Peru, seeking new opportunities, as the overlap of economic, political and social crises swallowed the country, she said. It passed illegally to the United States in September 2023.

His mother has not seen him personally for six years.

“He does not belong to any criminal gang, neither in the US nor in Venezuela … He is not a criminal,” said Gia Kazik. “What he was was a barber.”

“Unfortunately, he has tattoos,” she added, convinced that the roses and the names of family members who adorn his body lead to his detention and deportation. Thus, she and other members recognized him from photos posted to the deported to El Salvador.

Several other families have said they believe the deportes have been misinterpreted as members of the Tren de Aragu band because of their tattoos.

“This is him,” said a tearful dz, Kazik in Marakai, referring to the image from prison. “I wish not him … He didn’t deserve to be transferred there.”

Mervin Yamte’s mother, 29 -year -old, also identifies her son in the video.

“I threw myself to the floor saying that God could not do this to my son,” she told the BBC from her home in the Los Pescaladores neighborhood in Marakibo, Venezuela.

Like Gi Kazik, she denies that her son was involved in the band. He had left his hometown and was traveling to the United States through Darien’s abyss, passing illegally in 2023 with three of his friends: Edur Erera, 23; Andy Javier Peroso, 30; and Ringo Rincon, 39.

The BBC was talking to their families and friends, who said they had noticed the four men in the footage and now they were all kept in prison in Salvador.

Mr. Yamte’s mother said her son worked at a tortilla factory, sometimes working 12-hour shifts. On Sunday, he played football with his friends.

“He is a good, noble young man. There is a mistake,” she said.

President Trump referred to a centuries -old law, the Law on Enemies of Aliens of 1798, to deport men without a proper process in the United States, saying they are members of the Tren de Aragu gang.

Despite the US government’s assurances that the deportes were carefully checked, this move had a freezing effect on many Venezuelans and Venezuelan-Americans in the United States, who fear the use of Trump’s law could lead to more Venezuells have been charged and quickly deported without any accusations or convictions.

“Of course we are afraid. We are horrified,” said Adelis Ferro, an executive director of the Venezuelan-American Caucous, an advocacy group. “We want every member of TDA to pay for their crimes. But we don’t know what the criteria are.”

“They (Venezolani) live in uncertain moments,” she said. “They don’t know what decisions to make – even people with documents have been here for years.”

Mrs. Ferro’s concerns were voiced by Brian de la Vega, a famous Florida-based lawyer born in Venezuela and a military veteran.

Many of his customers are in the Miami area, including Doral – a suburb, sometimes given to the Doralzuela manager for his great Venezuela population.

“The bigger part of the Venezuelans in the United States is trying to do the right thing. They are afraid to return to their homeland,” G -n La Vega told the BBC. “The main concern for me is how they identify these members. The standard is very low.”

Many Venezuelan emigrants to the United States – especially in South Florida – largely support Trump, who took a difficult position on the left -wing government of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, which many of them fled.

But in February, the Trump administration terminated the temporary protective status – TPS – for Venezuelans, who had defended many from deportation. The program officially ends on April 7 and can influence nearly 350,000 Venezuelan citizens living in the United States.

“Trump’s statements have always been strong about Venezwell’s regime, especially during the campaign,” said G -n de la Vega. “I don’t think people expected all this.”

Daniel Campo, a naturalized naturalized US citizen of the United States in Pennsylvania – and a supporter of the ardent Trump – told the BBC that although he remains steadfast in his support of the president, he has some concerns about deportations in El Salvador and the end of the TP.

“I certainly hope that when they make raids to deport Tren de Aragua, especially at El Salvador Prison, they are further careful,” he said.

Among those caught by surprise until the end of TPS and recent deportations is a 25-year-old man from Venezuela, who wanted to be identified only as Yilber, who arrived in the United States in 2022 after a long, dangerous journey through Central America and Mexico.

He is in the US now – but he is not sure what’s next.

“I left Venezuela for repression and uncertainty. My neighborhood in Caracas had bands,” he said. “Now I don’t know what will happen here.”