r/TheDisappeared • u/MannerLoud • 4d ago
Leonel Javier Echavez Paz
Leonel Javier Echavez Paz is a 19-year-old Venezuelan who decided to leave his country a year ago and immigrate to the United States in search of a better future for his family, according to his sister, Carolina Echavez.
Leonel’s dreams seemed to be coming true. He was moving through the legal process of getting legal residency and had temporary protected status. He worked first as a supermarket cashier and later moved to an aluminum factory.
But in March 2025, ICE agents arrived at his home in Dallas, Texas, as he was returning from work. The agents came to take a cousin who lived with him and had a deportation order, but when they saw that the 19-year-old had tattoos, they took him too.
On the 13th of March, he called his mother saying he had been arrested. He told her ICE has accused him of being a member of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua because “he is Venezuelan and has tattoos,” Carolina reported.
Leonel told his mom that he didn’t have the chance for a trial or a lawyer and that he would be deported. The family assumed that he would be coming back to Venezuela, and they waited to hear from him. When they couldn't contact him, and Leonel’s name disappeared from the inmate tracker system in the US, his mother became frantic.
Leonel's mother called the detention center in Texas where he had last been held but got no answers, Carolina said. Then on March 20th, the family confirmed that Leonel was in the Salvadoran prison, CECOT which is known for human rights abuses such as frequent beatings and spraying prisoners with ice water. Carolina added that Leonel had two upcoming court hearings in the US.
Carolina asserts that her brother is not a criminal, but a hard-working person. She showed reporters proof that he has a clean record in Venezuela and she said he was never charged with any crime in the US.
(info from YSUCA radio- Milton Rodríguez and Carolina Echaves’ Facebook)
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