On March 13, Nedizon Alejandro Aleon Rengel called his brother Neiyerver to wish him a happy birthday—but he never got a response. What Alejandro didn’t know was that Adrian had been detained by federal agents that same day while on his way to work at a barbershop in Dallas.
For weeks, Alejandro searched desperately for answers. He feared his brother might have been held in an immigration facility or even deported.
He and his girlfriend reached out to the Immigration and Customs office in Texas, but their efforts led nowhere. They were passed from agent to agent, with no one able to give them a straight answer.
Some officials claimed Adrian was still in detention, while others said he had been sent back to “his country”—El Salvador—even though he’s actually Venezuelan.
Alejandro’s mother, who had once been held at a detention center in Venezuela for deportees waiting to enter the U.S., confirmed that Adrian wasn’t there either.
Eventually, they turned to Cristosal, a non-profit organization in El Salvador that helps deportees and their families navigate the system and get information from the U.S. government.
Adrian’s daughter – Alejandro’s young niece – asked about her father every day, always wondering when he would call.
Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), who had also been helping the family, said they had been waiting for over 40 days to “learn Adrian’s fate.”
They finally got an answer on Tuesday, when the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to NBC News that Adrian had been sent to El Salvador.
Alejandro said the news left him devastated, saying that “It shattered [him]”.
When asked whether Adrian had been deported to CECOT, the mega-prison in El Salvador, the Department of Homeland Security declined to comment. But Alejandro fears that’s where his brother may have ended up, as many Venezuelans deported from Texas have reportedly been sent there.
Alejandro said the prison has been described by El Salvador’s president as a place “where demons enter their hell” and insisted that his brother “is not a criminal.”
Their experience is similar to that of many families caught up in the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. In some cases, relatives have seemingly disappeared after being detained by immigration authorities.
Recently, the administration has been focusing heavily on deporting men who are allegedly linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
When asked for documents and details supporting allegations of Adrian’s criminality, Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary of the DHS, said they “aren’t going to share intelligence reports” every time a gang member denies their allegation.
However, Adrian’s family insists that he is not related to any gang.
