Family and friends of a Venezuelan migrant living in Texas say officials sent him to an El Salvador mega-prison because he had an autism awareness tattoo.
Neri Jose Alvarado Borges was one of the hundreds of men deported by immigration authorities on March 15 to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, one of the most dangerous prisons in the world, his friends and family told NBC DallasFortWorth on Monday.
Borges has a tattoo that features a rainbow-colored ribbon composed of puzzle pieces, a symbol for autism awareness, along with the name of Borges’s autistic brother, according to the local outlet.
Borge’s friends and family said he was told by immigration authorities that the tattoo was proof he belonged to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
“And he said, ‘But I have my asylum, I have the asylum [papers] here with me,'” Juan Enrique Hernandez, a friend of Borges, told NBC Dallas Fort Worth. “And the people said no, you’re going to jail because you have a tattoo.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return NBC News’ request for comment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed Borges’ apprehension with NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. NBC News reached out to ICE for additional comment.
Borges was working at a bakery in Lewisville, Texas, before he was apprehended by ICE agents at his apartment complex in February, according to the local outlet.
His friends told NBC Dallas Fort-Worth that he was apprehended for crossing into the United States illegally and was being held at Bluebonnet Jail near Abilene.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office told NBC Dallas Fort-Worth that they had no records of Borges being charged with any crime locally.
“Everybody working here knows Neri is a good person, is a good brother, is a good friend,” Hernandez, the owner of the bakery Borges was working at, told the outlet.
Several relatives of men sent to the mega-prison last month have similarly disputed claims by the Trump administration that their family members are affiliated with gangs, which the administration used to justify their deportations.
Court documents show that the government relied on mundane tattoos and social media posts to justify the deportations.
One man’s deportation has prompted national outrage in recent weeks. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador immigrant who was living in Maryland under a court-issued protective order, was sent to prison in El Salvador last month, in what federal officials called an “administrative error.“
The Trump administration has repeatedly defied or ignored a court order to return Abrego Garcia to the United States, raising concerns about a constitutional crisis.
Trump and other White House officials have also floated the idea of deporting U.S. citizens convicted of certain crimes.
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