Final month, Jose Franco Caraballo Tiapa, a 26-year previous Venezuelan migrant who was looking for asylum within the U.S., confirmed as much as his routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, Texas, when authorities detained him, his spouse informed ABC Information.
Ivannoa Sanchez, 22, informed ABC Information she believes her husband is without doubt one of the tons of of Venezuelan males who this previous weekend have been despatched by airplane to El Salvador underneath the Alien Enemies Act.
In keeping with Sanchez, the couple crossed the U.S. border in November 2023 and surrendered to authorities. After claiming asylum and being detained for a couple of days, ICE launched them and ordered them to examine in routinely with the federal company.
Sanchez mentioned the couple had gone to a number of of their scheduled check-ins with out experiencing any points. However on Feb. 3, Tiapa was not allowed to return house together with his spouse regardless of being scheduled to have his first courtroom look in his asylum case in March.
Sanchez offered ABC Information with paperwork that confirmed Tiapa’s scheduled appointment with an immigration decide on March 19.
“He went to his routine ICE appointment and he did not come out,” Sanchez informed ABC Information.
She mentioned she was in a position to full her check-in with ICE that day and has not but acquired an appointment for an additional check-in.
Alleged members of the Venezuelan legal group Tren de Aragua who have been deported by the U.S. authorities, are detained on the Terrorism Confinement Heart in Tecoluca, El Salvador in a photograph obtained Mar. 16, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia through Reuters
Equally, ABC Information spoke with Sebastian Garcia Casique, who claims his brother was detained by ICE after his routine-check-in.
In keeping with Casique, his brother Francisco Garcia Casique. who entered america in December 2023 and surrendered to authorities, was detained after going to an ICE workplace final month for his appointment.
“There, some law enforcement officials detained him as a result of they noticed his tattoos and mentioned they have been going to analyze him due to them,” Casique informed ABC Information.
Casique mentioned that on Friday, his brother referred to as his household from the detention middle in Texas the place he was being held to allow them to know that he believed he was being deported to Venezuela. However on Sunday, Casique mentioned that he and his household acknowledged his brother in a photograph posted on social media by the White Home.
“It is a nightmare,” Casique informed ABC Information.
Sanchez mentioned that after being detained in Dallas, her husband was transferred to a detention middle in Laredo, Texas, the place she was in a position to converse with him commonly.
However on Saturday, she mentioned her husband informed her that he believed he was going to be transferred and presumably deported.
On Sunday morning, after Sanchez noticed the video posted on X by the president of El Salvador displaying Venezuelan migrants being despatched there, she checked the ICE locator web site that shares up to date details about the place migrants are being detained.
“I examine the system, and he does not present up,” Sanchez informed ABC Information. “I continually assume and know he is there as a result of he has tattoos, as a result of he is a barber, however he has no involvement with the group they’re associating him with.”
Sanchez mentioned that her husband is being unfairly focused by the Trump administration for being Venezuelan and having tattoos, after Trump on Saturday mentioned he was invoking the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
She offered ABC Information with paperwork that present Tiapa doesn’t have any legal information in Venezuela.
Casique additionally informed ABC Information his brother has not dedicated any crimes past crossing the U.S. border.
Casique claims that after his brother surrendered to authorities, he was detained and investigated for a couple of days, then appeared earlier than an immigration decide who ordered him to be launched with an ankle monitor to be tracked.
Casique mentioned his brother turned 24 whereas being detained
“By no means in his life had he spent a birthday in that scenario,” he mentioned. “The melancholy should be attending to him.”
Casique mentioned his brother had the American Dream of working as a barber within the U.S.
“[He] hoped for a greater future to assist us, assist all of the relations, and take a look at the scenario now,” Casique mentioned.
A assessment of federal courtroom information discovered no legal courtroom circumstances related to Garcia Casique or Tiapa.
ABC Information beforehand reported that advocacy teams and a few kin of the Venezuelan migrants who have been despatched to the jail in Guantanamo Bay declare the administration offered no proof the migrants have been “high-threat” criminals or that they belonged to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The Trump administration, over the weekend, introduced that might start deportations underneath the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century regulation that permits for the arrest and elimination of non-U.S. residents when their nation or authorities is at warfare with america. The Trump administration designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a International Terrorist Group, calling it a “hybrid legal state that’s perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into america.”
After the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was challenged in courtroom on Saturday, a federal decide verbally ordered two planes carrying alleged gang members to El Salvador to show round and return to the U.S., however sources mentioned administration officers made the willpower that because the flights have been already over worldwide waters, the decide’s order didn’t apply, and the planes weren’t rotated.
On Monday, the decide held a “fact-finding” listening to over the whether or not the administration knowingly violated his courtroom order, however didn’t situation ruling on the matter.
Sanchez and Casique informed ABC Information they reached out to ICE and the Division of Homeland safety a number of instances. however that the businesses haven’t offered any details about their kin.
ICE and DHS officers didn’t responded to ABC Information’ request for data on Tiapa or Garcia Casique.
“He has by no means performed something, not even a advantageous, completely nothing,” Sanchez mentioned of her husband. “We selected this nation as a result of it provides extra safety, extra freedom, extra peace of thoughts. However we did not know it could flip into chaos.”
