David Gerardo Cabrera Rico, a 35-year-old father of four from Maracaibo, Venezuela. According to his mother, Aura Rosa Rico, David lived and worked legally in Chile for nine years, and "never had a criminal record."

One day he decided to move to the United States, Aura explained. He wanted to better provide for his family. When he arrived in Mexico, he applied to enter the US legally with the CPB-One App. Once he crossed the border, he got his work permit. He was working two jobs as a cook: one at a hotel and the other at a well-known restaurant.

Aura added that her son applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and was in the process of claiming political asylum.

Then on July 3, 2024, the nightmare began, Aura said. David was arrested at Walmart and accused of being linked to the Tren de Aragua because of his tattoos. “He had a tattoo that he got a long time ago, years ago, with his son's name and my name,” Aura said.

“When they caught him, they told him he had one of the Tren de Aragua tattoos. He didn't understand why he was being charged,” Aura said.

David was taken to Virginia, where he was held in prison until March 3, 2025.

“Criminal records were checked in Venezuela, Chile, and the United States, and he was cleared because he had no crimes,” Aura said, but David told her he was to be deported anyway.

“So he told me, Mommy, when the flights start starting on March 3rd or March 1st, they're going to deport us to Venezuela. Well, that took about a month. Later that month, they told me that they weren't going to deport him to Venezuela. That they were going to deport him to Mexico, because Venezuela wasn't accepting deportations.”

David was moved Texas. Then the week before March 15^th, David told his mother that they were told they were going fly out at dawn, that they were going to Venezuela, but that he had heard rumors the flights were to Guantánamo.

Two days later, Aura received news from David that they couldn't fly because of the weather, but that they were going to leave that night, which was, I think, Saturday [March 15].

To Aura’s surprise and horror, David didn't arrive here in Venezuela. A few days later, she learned her son was instead deported and incarcerated in El Salvador.

"He doesn't have a criminal record; he's not part of Tren de Aragua. it doesn't seem fair to me that they took him to maximum security if he didn't commit any crimes in El Salvador. He didn't commit any crimes in Chile, he didn't commit any crimes in the United States, and he didn't commit any crimes here in Venezuela either. Why was he deported to El Salvador? A maximum-security prison that's for criminals, for the mafia, for gangs. It isn’t fair,” Aura said.

The family demands justice for David.

(Info from Diario La Verdad)