Mirelys Casique was able to be reunited along with her son, 24-year-old Francisco Garcia Casique. In March, Francisco referred to as Mirelys from an ICE facility to say that he was being deported again dwelling to Venezuela the next day. After 6 years aside, they might lastly see one another once more.
However Francisco would by no means arrive on Venezuelan soil.
As a substitute, he was deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT jail together with greater than 230 others.
Francisco Garcia Casique working as a barber
However when photos started to flow into on social media of the shaved and shackled males compelled to kneel on CECOT’s concrete flooring, Mirelys knew that Francisco wouldn’t be coming dwelling.
“I wanted to bang my head against the wall, refusing to believe my son belonged in that place,” she mentioned.
Francisco, like lots of the individuals who President Donald Trump deported with out simply trigger by means of use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, had no prior felony convictions. Moderately, he was focused due to his tattoos and the truth that he’s from Aragua, the Venezuelan city dwelling to the Tren de Aragua gang.
And whereas the Trump administration has labeled Francisco a harmful felony to justify preserving him in El Salvador, his mom says in any other case.
“He was always a barber, a worker, responsible,” she informed Every day Kos.
Earlier than arriving in america in 2023, Francisco was dwelling in Peru working as a barber. Finally, Francisco would cross the border illegally into america and later flip himself in, starting a prolonged technique of obligatory courtroom hearings as he tried to change into a authorized resident. Within the meantime, he lived and labored in Texas.
“He left Venezuela to help his family as the eldest son, not to end up abused and locked in a prison as if he were a terrorist,” Mirelys mentioned.
And whereas the Division of Homeland Safety insists that Francisco is a member of Tren de Aragua, the younger barber was a part of an administrative mixup prior to now.
A web based Texas database listed suspected gang members, together with Francisco. However the photograph was incorrectly recognized and was truly of an older, bearded man utterly unaffiliated with Francisco. Regardless of being listed within the database, Francisco was launched from ICE custody, given an ankle monitor, and labeled nonthreatening as he awaited trial.
Francisco Garcia Casique is seen shackled with a shaved hed after being deported to El Salvador.
However after Trump took workplace, Mirelys informed Every day Kos, every part modified. On Feb. 6, ICE brokers broke down Francisco’s door and violently kidnapped him in the midst of the evening.
“It was a kidnapping,” she mentioned.
Mirelys, like many different family members of the Venezuelan males being held in CECOT, has not heard from her son since he boarded the deportation flight.
“Francisco is a humble young man. We are low-income people, but that doesn’t mean we should be labeled criminals or bad people,” she mentioned.
On June 16, Mirelys—together with 4 different family members of detained males—traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to plead for the United Nations to step in. Many have additionally tried touring on to El Salvador to see their family members. However even with legal professionals at their facet, the journeys have been unsuccessful.
And whereas Mirelys’ story of a heartbroken mom might resonate with the residents of Geneva, she has returned to Venezuela with out the outcomes she hoped for.
“Many have spoken out in support, but we want action,” she informed Every day Kos. “We want this to end soon. We don’t know the extent of their physical and mental deterioration.”
As experiences have surfaced concerning the torture inside CECOT, the wellbeing of the deported Venezuelan males is a prime concern.
It’s unclear what the following authorized steps might be as individuals like Mirelys await their family members’ hopeful launch. Whereas the Trump administration beforehand mentioned that the accountability to launch anybody was within the arms of El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele has now insisted that El Salvador is solely holding them as a favor for america.
For Mirelys, all she will be able to do is proceed to inform her son’s story and maintain onto hope.
“I want the world to know that even though we are going through this great pain and we are destroyed because this is an injustice—because evil wants to stalk us and hurt our families—we still believe in God, and God is just and good,” she mentioned. “He will return our children to us.”
