The day after he was arrested while working at a restaurant in Texas, Mervin Jose Yamarte Fernandez climbed out of a plane in shackles in El Salvador, bound for the largest mega-prison in Latin America.

His sister, Jare, recognized him in a video shared on social media. As masked guards shaved detainees’ heads and led them into cells at the maximum-security complex, Yamarte Fernandez turned his gaze slowly to the camera.

“He was asking for help. And that help didn’t come from the lips. It came from the soul,” said Jare, who asked to be identified by her nickname because she fears for her family’s safety and who added her brother has no previous criminal record. “You know when someone has their soul broken.”

Yamarte Fernandez, 29, is among 238 Venezuelans the Trump administration accused of being gang members without providing public evidence and sent over the weekend to El Salvador’s Terrorist Confinement Center, a prison about 45 miles from the capital designed to hold up to 40,000 people as part of a crackdown on gangs. They will be jailed for at least one year, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said in a statement on X, following a deal brokered between the two countries in February.

“These heinous monsters were extracted and removed to El Salvador where they will no longer be able to pose any threat to the American people,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

But families of three men who appear to have been deported and imprisoned in El Salvador told the Miami Herald that their relatives have no gang affiliation – and two said their relatives had never been charged with a crime in the U.S. or elsewhere. One has been previously accused by the U.S. government of ties to the feared Tren de Aragua gang, but his family denies any connection.

Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to Miami Herald questions about what criteria was used to select detainees sent to El Salvador, what the plan is for detainees incarcerated abroad, and whether the government had defied a federal judge’s orders to send them there.

Legal experts have taken the Trump administration to court over the deportations, arguing that the government illegally invoked an 18th century wartime law. On Saturday, a federal judge ordered the government to hold off on the deportations. The Justice Department said in a court filing Monday that the judge’s oral order to turn around the planes, after they had already departed, was not enforceable and that the ruling was not applicable outside U.S. territory.

Hannah Flamm, an attorney and acting senior policy director at the International Refugee Project, a New York-based legal aid and advocacy group, said the Trump administration’s use of wartime authorities to conduct deportations is “shocking.” She described the weekend’s deportations as part of a “campaign of mass deportations and evisceration of the rule of law.”

“The Trump administration is pushing the limits to find out what it can get away with, both in the courts and in public opinion,” she said.

Families of some of the men sent to El Salvador told the Herald that they feel powerless in the wake of the U.S. government’s decision to ship their loved ones off to a prison in a foreign country without due process. For years, the prison has been the subject of investigations by reporters and advocates who have found thousands of innocent people have been jailed there without due process.

“He shouldn’t be imprisoned in El Salvador, let alone in a dangerous prison like the one where the Mara Salvatruchas are held,” said Jare, referring to the international criminal organization with roots in El Salvador. “There are many innocent people behind bars. And today, my brother is one of them.”

Originally Yamarte Fernandez was hesitant to move to the United States, Jare said, but she convinced him to join her in Dallas County to provide a better life for his partner and daughter, who stayed back in their home state of Zulia. Jare said her brother did not have any tattoos because of their Christian upbringing. Tattoos have been used by the U.S. government in the past as an indication of gang affiliation, though experts say that Tren de Aragua members don’t have any particular signs that identify their membership.

“I’m in so much pain,” said Jare, who lives in Texas. “I never imagined this country would cause so much harm to my family.”

‘Irregular warfare’

On Saturday, President Donald Trump invoked the centuries old wartime law to allow his administration to arrest, relocate, and deport any Venezuelan citizens over the age of 14 who are Tren de Aragua members.

Best known for its role in interning Japanese immigrants during World War II, the Alien Enemies Act is a 1798 law that has been used only three times before – all during times of war. In his announcement of the order, Trump said that Tren de Aragua is invading the country.

“Evidence irrefutably demonstrates that TdA has invaded the United States and continues to invade, attempt to invade, and threaten to invade the country; perpetrated irregular warfare within the country; and used drug trafficking as a weapon against our citizens,” a statement from Trump said.

Anyone accused of being a member of the gang has no right to challenge the accusation under the Alien Enemies law, which grants the government the power to deport a person without due process or the opportunity to contest the claim. Before the proclamation, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on behalf of five Venezuelans facing deportation.

The rights organization claimed the law cannot be used against nationals of Venezuela because the United States is not at war with Venezuela nor has Venezuela launched a predatory incursion into the United States. Attorneys said the five men, who were not among those deported on Saturday, had been wrongly identified as gang members and were seeking asylum. At least two of them fled Venezuela in part because Tren de Aragua was persecuting them, according to the lawsuit.

“J.A.V. is not and has never been a member of Tren de Aragua,” attorneys wrote about one of the plaintiffs. “He was in fact victimized by that group and the group is the reason he cannot return to Venezuela.”

Lee Gelernt, the ACLU’s lead counsel on the case, called the use of the Alien Enemies Act “flatly unlawful” in a statement to the Herald. But he said that even if it could be used, the individuals were entitled to due process to show they were not gang members.

“If these individuals are afforded due process it will then be determined whether they are members of the gang but we would caution hesitation before anybody takes at face value the Trump administration’s characterization given the administration’s frequent overstatement about immigrant detainees, including with respect to the individuals sent to Guantanamo over the past month,” said Gelernt.

A federal judge issued a ruling blocking the president from deporting the men on Saturday. He also broadened the order to apply to anyone who could be at risk of deportation under the executive order.

At the hearing, he ordered the Trump administration to return any flights that were in mid-air. Flight-tracking data shows that three flights landed after the judge blocked the executive order, according to the Washington Post.

“Oopsie… Too late,” Bukele wrote on X, a post that Secretary of State Marco Rubio later re-shared.

In Monday’s press briefing at the White House, Leavitt said the U.S. is paying $6 million to El Salvador “for the detention of these foreign terrorists.” That same day during a court hearing, the federal judge questioned the Trump administration to determine whether it had violated Saturday’s injunction.

In an interview with Fox News, Rubio was asked about concerns regarding the lack of concrete evidence confirming that all the individuals deported to the Salvadoran prisons are indeed members of Tren de Aragua. He responded, “If one of them turns out not to be, then they’re just illegally in our country, and the Salvadorans can then deport them from — to Venezuela, but they weren’t supposed to be in our country to begin with.”

Flamm, the International Refugee Project lawyer, said the Trump administration was undermining its own ability to crack down on gangs by deporting the people it is in the midst of prosecuting. The federal government sent MS-13 members to El Salvador over the weekend too, including a top leader of the group who is a defendant in a prominent criminal case in New York

“The U.S. government has gone out of its way to prosecute on terrorism charges precisely in an effort to hold gang leaders to account. But the Trump administration clearly does not actually care about public safety or accountability,” she said.

‘Decision to leave’

Yamarte Fernandez had bought a house in a poor neighborhood in Maracaibo to live with his wife and 4-year-old daughter. But the house needed to be remodeled, the kitchen refurbished, the roof replaced.

He decided to travel to the U.S. to support his family at home and send back his earnings to fix up the house. He made the journey from Zulia to the U.S through the Darien Gap, the dangerous jungle between Panama and Colombia, with 13 other Venezuelans, including three other men from his neighborhood who were detained by ICE the same day he was. He arrived at the border in September 2023.

But as the Trump Administration started its crackdown on illegal immigration – specifically targeting Venezuelans – Yamarte Fernandez and his family had already decided to self deport later this year.

“We had made the decision to leave the U.S. voluntarily to return to Venezuela,” Jare said. “I wanted to stay until December, but he was determined to leave in September.”

Jare said his brother was a hard worker determined to not burden the U.S. In videos where she recognized her brother in El Salvador, she identified two other men who had traveled with him from their neighborhood in Venezuela.

“We came to this country to work and do things right,” she said. “It’s painful that they blame my brother, and they portray him as a member of the Tren de Aragua. I don’t accept the bad reputation created around my brother.”

Yamarte Fernandez is one of seven siblings from a Christian family in Maracaibo, the capital of oil-rich state Zulia, bordering Colombia, according to his sister. Jare described him as a lifelong athlete who loved soccer and baseball and found ways to be active despite his challenging asthma.

“It’s a lie when they said that he was from the TdA. My brother doesn’t even have a tattoo,” his sister said, explaining that his family doesn’t believe in tattoos because of religious reasons.

‘Speaking to the devil’

On Monday, Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez called on the legislature, controlled by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, to issue a formal request banning all Venezuelans from traveling to the U.S.

“In the United States, there is no rule of law when it comes to the rights of our migrants,” Rodríguez said during a press conference in Caracas. He also spoke about Venezuelans who were sent to the prison in El Salvador.

“We will go to great lengths, even if it means speaking to the devil, to ensure that Venezuelans are returned to their homeland,” he said.

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized by the U.S. and other democratic nations as the real winner of the presidential election held in Venezuela on July 28th, and Maria Corina Machado issued a statement Monday saying that the Tren de Aragua poses a significant “threat to the entire region.”

Machado and Gonzalez expressed support for the measures the U.S. is taking to identify, arrest and prosecute those involved with or supporting the gang. However, they stressed the need for authorities to exercise “extreme caution in administering justice.” They said it is crucial to distinguish between high-level criminals like Maduro and the vast majority of innocent Venezuelans, to prevent the unjust criminalization of Venezuelan migrants.

‘Wait for me’

Another family fears that their relative was also sent to prison in El Salvador, after he had spent several weeks awaiting deportation in Texas.

Gustavo Adolfo Aguilera Agüero, 27, is from the Venezuelan Andes in Táchira, an area bordering Colombia, and had been living in Dallas since December 2023 with his wife. The couple entered the United States using a now-defunct mobile application to schedule appointments with southwest border authorities. Aguilera Agüero’s wife soon found out she was five months pregnant with their first child. Her husband was working installing water pipes on rooftops and his wife found work taking care of children.

“It hasn’t been easy, but we came together to move ahead in life together,” said his wife, Susej, who asked to only use her first name because she fears for her safety.

In early February, authorities detained Aguilera Agüero while he was taking trash out of his home, his wife said. Authorities had been looking for someone else, she said, but he was taken to Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas.

Aguilera Agüero spent several weeks in detention waiting for a deportation to Venezuela, but his mother, Miriam Aguilera, now fears her son could be among the Venezuelans deported on Saturday to El Salvador instead. The family last heard from Aguilera Agüero on Friday night, when he told his mother he was being deported to Venezuela. A plane from Conviasa, Venezuelan airlines, was going to take him back to his country.

“Mom, we’re going to be deported to Venezuela. Wait for me,” Miriam Aguilera remembered her son telling her.

But by Sunday, no plane had arrived in Venezuela, and she saw the deportations to El Salvador on the news. She still doesn’t know where he is – and has been scanning videos of the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador looking for him.

Aguilera Agüero has an American-citizen son, Jacob, who is nine months old, and an older Venezuelan son, Santiago. His family denies that he has any connection with Tren de Aragua. According to his mother, her son’s tattoos tell a story of love and loyalty: A crown, inked with the name of his first son, Santiago. A star intertwined with his name and his mother’s name. Across one arm, the phrase “Real hasta la muerte” – “Real until death” – which was made famous by Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Anuel AA.

Public safety authorities in Texas have linked these tattoos to Tren de Aragua and officials are using them to identify suspected members.

“We were told he was arrested because of the tattoos on his neck and arms, but my son doesn’t have a criminal record,” Miriam Aguilera told the Herald.

One man whose relatives spoke with the Herald has previously faced accusations of gang ties from the Drug Enforcement Administration. His family insists he was wrongfully accused of gang involvement.

‘Let us leave’

Henry Javier Vargas Lugo, 32, originally from La Guaira state on Venezuela’s coast, had been living in Aurora, Colorado, for nearly a year when he was detained on Jan. 29, and he was later transported to Texas.

Before Vargas Lugo migrated to the U.S., he lived in Colombia for seven years, working as a mechanic in Bogotá. Seeking a fresh start, he decided to leave Colombia and try his luck in the United States.

Vargas Lugo entered the U.S. through El Paso, bringing his daughter and her mother with him. When U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered him, they asked him to remove his shirt to document his tattoos. Officials inquired whether he was affiliated with a gang, including Tren de Aragua, and he denied any association, according to his sister, Nayrobis Vargas, who spoke with the Miami Herald. He has several tattoos, including crowns with his niece and mother’s name, a clock on his arm and a rosary.

In Colorado he worked odd jobs, delivering food and shoveling snow, doing whatever it took to provide for his family, his family said.

He was arrested in Aurora on extortion charges connected to an incident that occurred on the light rail, officials confirmed. He was later released from jail pending an investigation, and his family says that he was the victim of a scam.

The Drug Enforcement Administration – which participated in the arrest – released a photo of Vargas Lugo, identifying him as a member of Tren de Aragua, but hasn’t disclosed any evidence. He has yet to be sentenced with a crime.

Vargas Lugo’s family was able to identify him in a video posted by Bukele of the detainees arriving in El Salvador. His hands are shackled and his head bowed.

“The families are devastated and terrified of what might happen to them,” said one of his cousins in Venezuela. “I haven’t eaten all day just thinking about what they’re going through.”

Yamarte Fernandez’s family is still planning to self deport back to Venezuela. His sister said she does not “blame Trump” because she was “taught not to judge others.” But she said that the president’s decisions are “reaching extremes that are impacting innocent people.”

“Let us leave, but let us leave in a good way,” said Jare, Yamarte Fernandez’s sister. “Not leaving from here and ending up in a prison.”

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