Neri Alvarado Borges, a Venezuelan man detained in Texas earlier this month, was deported to El Salvador despite an ICE agent declaring Alvarado was "clean" after he clarified the meaning behind his tattoos.
Alvarado, who left his family in late 2023, told a friend that he was detained in Houston in February because of his tattoos.
"We're finding and questioning everyone who has tattoos," Alvarado reported the agent said, according to Mother Jones.
The 25-year-old undocumented American explained to an agent that one of his tattoos was an autism awareness ribbon, dedicated to his 15-year-old brother. He further clarified that none of his three tattoos was connected to Tren de Aragua, and, after the agent searched his phone, Alvarado was declared "clean."
"I'm going to put down here that you have nothing to do with Tren de Aragua," the agent told Alvarado, per Mother Jones.
An agent in the Dallas office, however, kept Alvarado without explaining why. He and his family then assumed he was going to be deported home to Venezuela but when he failed to appear, his family grew concerned.
Last week, when CBS News published a list of the 238 Venezuelan men who were deported to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, Alvarado's family found his name on the list.
"Anyone who's talked to Neri for even an hour can tell you what a great person he is. Truly, as a family, we are completely devastated to see him going through something so unjust—especially knowing that he's never done anything wrong," Alvarado's older sister, María, told Mother Jones. "He's someone who, as they say, wouldn't even hurt a fly."
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