Venezuelan prisoners draw a large SOS sign in the courtyard of an immigration center in Texas.
Relatives of the detainees claim they are not gang members, but the Trump administration wants to deport them to El Salvador.
BarcelonaInmates at an immigration detention center have gathered in the center's courtyard to draw a large SOS sign with their bodies, visible from the air. A total of 31 men stood in the formation of the three letters of the universal distress signal, and a Reuters drone captured the image on Monday. The news agency has also had access to documents showing that the detainees are Venezuelan immigrants and that ten days ago, staff at the Bluebonnet immigration center in Anson, Texas, warned them they would be deported to El Salvador, considering them members of the Venezuelan criminal gang.
The families of seven of the detainees have been interviewed by Reuters and claim their relatives are not members of any political party. According to the relatives, the detainees refused to sign the document informing them of their deportation.
On April 18, a group of detainees from the center were bused to the Abilene airport with the intention of deporting them, but the vehicle eventually turned around and returned to the detention center, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and family members. That day, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s deportations of immigrants to El Salvador under the so-called Alien Enemies Act.
It was under this procedure that the Trump administration deported up to 200 Venezuelans in a high-security prison in El Salvador, accusing them of being part of criminal gangs like the Tren de Aragua. It has since been revealed that at least one of those deportees was not a member of the gangs and was sent to prison by mistake.