In an interview with the BBC, a woman was devastated after spotting her barber son in a notorious El Salvador prison following Trump’s mass deportation.
A shocking siscovery on the news
A Venezuelan mother was stunned when she spotted her barber son in a notorious El Salvador prison. Her son was one of over 100 alleged gang members deported under the Trump administration.
Myrelis Casique López believed her 24-year-old son, Francisco José García Casique, was being sent back to Caracas. Instead, she discovered his fate on the news.
Myrelis Casique López was expecting a reunion, but he never arrived; instead.
Casique waited for her son, whom she had not seen since 2019. Hours passed, but he never arrived.
The next day, while watching the news, she saw his image among gang members sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
Casique’s son was identified among Tren de Aragua gang members.
Francisco appeared in a group photo of prisoners in white uniforms.
His head was bowed, and his hands were cuffed behind his back. His brother, Sebastián, confirmed the identity.
“A mother’s instinct never fails. A brother’s instinct never fails…’ Sebastián told El Estímulo, “I recognized him: he has an arm with a sleeve [full] of tattoos and he is chubby. I recognized his ears, everything.”
A barber, not a criminal, says family
On social media, Casique took to TikTok to plead her son’s innocence. She insists he was never part of the violent Tren de Aragua gang.
“He doesn’t belong to any criminal gang, either in the US or Venezuela,” she said. “He’s not a criminal. What he’s been is a barber.”
Additionally, she also believes his tattoos, which include roses and family names, led authorities to label him as a gang member.
‘Unfortunately, he has tattoos,’ the worried mother said.
She also claims US immigration officials assumed he was in Tren de Aragua because of them.
Francisco’s journey from Venezuela to the U.S.
The Trump administration classified Tren de Aragua as a global terrorist organization. Officials claim they identified members using surveillance, police records, and victim testimonies.
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller defended the deportations. “Our job is to send the terrorists out before anyone else gets raped or murdered,” he stated.
Francisco left Venezuela in 2019, first moving to Peru.
He worked there as a barber for six years before entering the U.S. illegally in September 2023.
After turning himself in at the border, he was detained for two months. In April 2024, he was released with an electronic bracelet and began working in Longview, Texas.
When Trump took office in January, Francisco worried about his future. His mother reassured him that, at worst, he would be deported to Venezuela.
But on February 6, authorities arrested him at his home.
“Now, he’s in an abyss with no one to rescue him,” his mother lamented.
“I told him to follow the rules. He wasn’t a criminal, so at most, they would deport him,” Casique recalled. “But I was naïve. I thought the laws would protect him.”
Now, Garcia is in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. His mother is heartbroken.
“He’s in an abyss with no one to rescue him,” she said.
Casique continues to fight for her son, hoping to prove his innocence.