Luis Alberto Castillo, a father of 1 from Venezuela, entered the USA on Jan. 19, at some point earlier than Donald Trump grew to become president for a second time period — swept into workplace on a promise to deal with undocumented migrants with a heavy hand.
By Feb. 4, Mr. Castillo was on a airplane to a U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, greatest identified for a detention heart that has lengthy held terrorism suspects accused of launching the deadliest assault on American soil.
That day, the Division of Homeland Safety declared that those that had been transferred to the island represented “the worst of the worst” and had been all members of a Venezuelan legal group, the Tren de Aragua.
However in an interview from her house in Colombia, Mr. Castillo’s sister Yajaira Castillo mentioned her brother was not a gang member to be feared, however relatively an on a regular basis Venezuelan who had fled his nation due to its financial disaster.
She broke down repeatedly in the course of the dialog, crying as she described her ache and confusion round her brother’s scenario.
“My brother is just not a legal,” she mentioned. “That is all discrimination and xenophobia, simply because he’s Venezuelan.”
On condition that Mr. Castillo had spent such little time in the USA, she questioned how the U.S. authorities might have decided that he was a member of the Tren de Aragua, or was worthy of such harsh therapy.
After he entered the USA, officers suspected Mr. Castillo of being a member of the gang due to his tattoos, in line with two individuals acquainted with his case who weren’t approved to debate it publicly.
He didn’t admit to being part of the legal group. Later, officers assessed his tattoos and interviewed him, and so they discovered that he didn’t seem to have ties with the Tren de Aragua, the individuals mentioned.
In an preliminary e-mail, a spokeswoman for the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned that Mr. Castillo was in the USA illegally and had closing deportation orders issued by a federal choose.
“This administration abides by the rule of regulation,” mentioned the spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin. “Throughout additional evaluation, intelligence officers couldn’t definitively decide whether or not the person is or is just not a confirmed member of TDA,” or Tren de Aragua. “He might very nicely be a member of this vicious gang. He might not be.”
In a follow-up message, Ms. McLaughlin mentioned that the division had obtained new data that Mr. Castillo was a member of the gang. She didn’t present proof.
“TDA is a pathetic gang for human trafficking, drug trafficking and kidnap for ransom amongst different heinous crimes,’’ Ms. McLaughlin mentioned. “The New York Occasions is extra fascinated with writing sob tales about its disgusting members than justice for its victims.”
Within the interview, Mr. Castillo’s sister shared a screenshot that indicated that he had not tried to evade authorities when he entered the nation. The picture included particulars of an appointment her brother had secured to current himself on the border to say asylum on Jan. 19 at 7 a.m.
The Biden administration had arrange a system for migrants to make these claims and enter the USA legally by an app known as CBP One. Mr. Trump ended this system on Jan. 21.
Over the past week, the USA authorities has despatched greater than 80 males to Guantánamo Bay as a part of bigger plan by the Trump administration to carry as many as 30,000 migrants on the Naval base. Thus far, all of the detainees are believed to be Venezuelans. Some are being held in a jail constructing on the bottom, whereas others are detained at the Migrant Operations Heart, a dormitory-style facility. (Mr. Castillo is being held on the migrant heart, in line with D.H.S.)
U.S. troops are constructing a tent camp on the website in an effort to vastly increase its capability to carry detained migrants.
The Pentagon has described the first few Guantánamo arrivals as “high-threat unlawful aliens” and their detention on the base as “a brief measure.” However the administration has not launched any particulars proving the boys have legal information or described how officers decided they had been a risk.
Mr. Castillo is believed to be among the many first 10 males who had been despatched there from El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 4, as a result of his sister acknowledged him in {a photograph} of migrants being despatched to Guantánamo that was revealed on social media by Kristi Noem, the brand new head of the Division of Homeland Safety.
The picture, wherein Mr. Castillo’s head is bowed low and an officer in camouflage and gloves holds his again, was later shared extensively on social media. Ms. Castillo occurred upon it on TikTok.
The Tren de Aragua, a multinational group born in Venezuela’s Aragua state, has expanded to different components of Latin America and so far as the USA. The Trump administration not too long ago started the method of designating the group as a overseas terrorist group.
Mr. Castillo has a Michael Jordan tattoo on his neck, which his sister believes border authorities took as an indication that he was a member of the gang. In one of many final messages he despatched to her earlier than detention, Mr. Castillo mentioned that he had made it to the border and that officers “handled him badly due to the tattoos,” she mentioned.
Ronna Rísquez, a Venezuelan investigative journalist who has written a guide in regards to the legal group, mentioned the authorities could be unsuitable to imagine that somebody with a Michael Jordan tattoo is a member.
Some people within the Tren de Aragua may put on the image, she mentioned, however this has extra to do with the truth that basketball — which will be performed with restricted assets — has turn into enormously in style in poorer components of Venezuela over the previous few a long time.
“The eagerness for Michael Jordan, as a result of he’s the final word image of basketball, has been round for generations,” she mentioned.
Ms. Castillo mentioned the tattoos had been merely a part of her brother’s look, which regularly included shorts and sneakers and Jordan gear. She shared a previous photograph of him sporting a sweatshirt with the “jumpman” emblem related to Mr. Jordan.
She mentioned she believed her brother’s affinity for Mr. Jordan had turned him right into a “guinea pig” for the Trump administration’s increasing deportation program.
Like many Venezuelans, Mr. Castillo had left his nation years in the past and was residing in Colombia, washing automobiles. His sister mentioned he was barely scraping by and had left for the USA within the hopes of creating extra money “to offer all the things to his son, to work and work for his son.”
His journey to the U.S. southern border started in late 2023, she mentioned. With restricted funds, it took him till January of this 12 months to achieve Texas. There, she mentioned, he was apprehended by the authorities.
A evaluation of public police information signifies that Mr. Castillo was not convicted of any crimes whereas in Colombia.
Mr. Castillo is the eighth of 9 siblings; 4 dwell in Colombia and 4 others in Venezuela. He’ll flip 30 on Feb. 23.
The Guantánamo base is greatest identified for its post-9/11 detention facility, operated by the Pentagon. It at present holds 15 foreigners as wartime prisoners, individually from the Venezuelans being held there in migrant detention.
Ms. Castillo mentioned she had identified little about Guantánamo, solely that it was “a high-danger cell for main terrorists” and that after despatched there, prisoners “haven’t any rights, that it’s for the worst criminals.”
All she needed now for her brother, she mentioned, “is for him to be returned.”
“I don’t need him within the fingers of any authorities,” she continued. “What I need is for him to be returned to us.”
Carol Rosenberg contributed reporting from Florida and Simón Posada from Bogotá, Colombia.