Luis Alberto Castillo, a father of 1 from Venezuela, entered the US on Jan. 19, sooner or later earlier than Donald Trump turned president for a second time period — swept into workplace on a promise to deal with undocumented migrants with a heavy hand.
By Feb. 4, Mr. Castillo was on a aircraft to a U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, finest identified for a detention heart that has lengthy held terrorism suspects accused of launching the deadliest assault on American soil.
That day, the Division of Homeland Safety declared that those that had been transferred to the island represented “the worst of the worst” and had been all members of a Venezuelan prison group, the Tren de Aragua.
However in interview from her dwelling in Colombia, Mr. Castillo’s sister Yajaira Castillo mentioned her brother was not a gang member to be feared, however reasonably an on a regular basis Venezuelan who had fled his nation due to its financial disaster.
She broke down repeatedly through the dialog, crying as she described her ache and confusion round her brother’s scenario.
“My brother is just not a prison,” she mentioned. “That is all discrimination and xenophobia, simply because he’s Venezuelan.”
On condition that Mr. Castillo had spent such little time in the US, she questioned how the U.S. authorities may have decided that he was a member of the Tren de Aragua, or was worthy of such harsh therapy.
After he entered the US, officers suspected Mr. Castillo of being a member of the gang due to his tattoos, in keeping with two folks aware of his case who weren’t approved to debate it publicly.
He didn’t admit to being part of the prison group. Later, officers assessed his tattoos and interviewed him, and so they discovered that he didn’t seem to have ties with the Tren de Aragua, the folks mentioned.
In an electronic mail, a spokeswoman for the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned that Mr. Castillo was in the US illegally and had remaining deportation orders issued by a federal decide.
“This administration abides by the rule of regulation,” mentioned the spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin. “Throughout additional evaluation, intelligence officers couldn’t definitively decide whether or not the person is or is just not a confirmed member of TDA,” or Tren de Aragua. “He might very effectively be a member of this vicious gang. He might not be.”
Later, Ms. McLaughlin mentioned that that they had acquired affirmation that he was a member of the gang, however didn’t present additional proof.
Within the interview, Mr. Castillo’s sister shared a screenshot that indicated that he had not tried to evade authorities when he entered the nation. The picture included particulars of an appointment her brother had secured to current himself on the border to assert asylum on Jan. 19 at 7 a.m.
The Biden administration had arrange a system for migrants to make these claims and enter the US legally by way of an app referred to as CBP One. Mr. Trump ended this system on Jan. 21.
During the last week, the US authorities has despatched greater than 80 males to Guantánamo Bay as a part of bigger plan by the Trump administration to carry as many as 30,000 migrants on the Naval base. To this point, all of the detainees are believed to be Venezuelans. Some are being held in a prison building on the bottom, whereas others are detained at the Migrant Operations Center, a dormitory-style facility. (Mr. Castillo is being held on the migrant heart, in keeping with D.H.S.)
U.S. troops are constructing a tent camp on the website in an effort to vastly increase its capability to carry detained migrants.
The Pentagon has described the first few Guantánamo arrivals as “high-threat unlawful aliens” and their detention on the base as “a short lived measure.” However the administration has not launched any particulars proving the boys have prison information or described how officers decided they had been a risk.
Mr. Castillo is believed to be among the many first 10 males who had been despatched there from El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 4, as a result of his sister acknowledged him in {a photograph} of migrants being despatched to Guantánamo that was revealed on social media by Kristi Noem, the brand new head of the Division of Homeland Safety.
The picture, wherein Mr. Castillo’s head is bowed low and an officer in camouflage and gloves holds his again, was later shared extensively on social media. Ms. Castillo occurred upon it on TikTok.
The Tren de Aragua, a multinational group born in Venezuela’s Aragua state, has expanded to different elements of Latin America and so far as the US.
Mr. Castillo has a Michael Jordan tattoo on his neck, which his sister believes border authorities took as an indication that he was a member of the gang. In one of many final messages he despatched to her earlier than detention, Mr. Castillo mentioned that he had made it to the border and that officers “handled him badly due to the tattoos,” she mentioned.
Ronna Rísquez, a Venezuelan investigative journalist who has written a guide in regards to the prison group, mentioned the authorities could be mistaken to imagine that somebody with a Michael Jordan tattoo is a member.
Some people within the Tren de Aragua would possibly put on the image, she mentioned, however this has extra to do with the truth that basketball — which will be performed with restricted assets — has change into enormously widespread in poorer elements of Venezuela over the previous few a long time.
“The fervour for Michael Jordan, as a result of he’s the last word image of basketball, has been round for generations,” she mentioned.
Ms. Castillo mentioned the tattoos had been merely a part of her brother’s look, which frequently included shorts and sneakers and Jordan gear. She shared a previous picture of him sporting a sweatshirt with the “jumpman” brand related to Mr. Jordan.
She mentioned she believed her brother’s affinity for Mr. Jordan had turned him right into a “guinea pig” for the Trump administration’s increasing deportation program.
Like many Venezuelans, Mr. Castillo had left his nation years in the past and was residing in Colombia, washing vehicles. His sister mentioned he was barely scraping by and had left for the US within the hopes of constructing extra money “to present every thing to his son, to work and work for his son.”
His journey to the U.S. southern border started in late 2023, she mentioned. With restricted funds, it took him till January of this 12 months to achieve Texas. There, she mentioned, he was apprehended by the authorities.
A evaluate of public police information signifies that Mr. Castillo was not convicted of any crimes whereas in Colombia.
Mr. Castillo is the eighth of 9 siblings; 4 stay in Colombia and 4 others in Venezuela. He’ll flip 30 on Feb. 23.
The Guantánamo base is finest identified for its post-9/11 detention facility, operated by the Pentagon. It right this moment holds 15 foreigners as wartime prisoners, individually from the Venezuelans being held there in migrant detention.
Ms. Castillo mentioned she had identified little about Guantánamo, solely that it was “a high-danger cell for main terrorists” and that when despatched there, prisoners “haven’t any rights, that it’s for the worst criminals.”
All she wished now for her brother, she mentioned, “is for him to be returned.”
“I don’t need him within the fingers of any authorities,” she continued. “What I would like is for him to be returned to us.”
Carol Rosenberg contributed reporting from Florida and Simón Posada from Bogotá, Colombia.
