The family of a teenager being held in a notorious prison in El Salvador claims that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents knowingly arrested the young man by mistake but detained and deported him anyway. The family of Merwil Gutiérrez is seeking answers as he and others remain imprisoned without being convicted of any crimes based on dubious accusations of gang affiliation.
‘He’s not the one’ but deported anyway
Merwil was detained by ICE agents on Feb. 24, Documented first reported. Merwil’s arrest was witnessed by his cousin Luis, who observed Merwil’s apprehension from the window of their shared apartment and later informed Merwil’s father, Wilmer Gutiérrez, about the arrest. According to the account shared by Luis, ICE agents approached Merwil and two other young men on the street. One of the agents allegedly said of Merwil, “No, he’s not the one,” but the other agent responded, ‘Take him anyway,’” and he was detained. Merwil’s father was eventually allowed a brief phone call with his teenage son, who was later sent to Texas and then deported to El Salvador, along with other Venezuelans rounded up in the ICE crackdown.
Imprisoned in ‘a foreign country he’s never even been to’
Wilmer left Venezuela in 2023 with his son Merwil and his nephew Luis, traveling by bus and foot across several countries to a town in Mexico along the U.S. border, from which they applied to enter the U.S. and seek asylum based on the conditions in their home country. The family was eventually housed in New York City while they applied for asylum. Merwil has no criminal record in the United States or Venezuela and does not even have any tattoos, which are often used by authorities in the U.S. to indicate gang affiliation. He and other alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang were deported to El Salvador, “I could have understood if he’d been sent back to Venezuela,” Merwil’s father said, “but why to a foreign country he’s never even been to?”
Deported to El Salvador despite no criminal records
Merwil was one of over 200 Venezuelans arrested by ICE agents over alleged affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang. President Donald Trump recently declared the gang a terrorist organization and used this designation to round up and deport alleged members of the gang under the controversial Alien Enemies Act, a rarely enforced 18th century law. The majority of the 238 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador have no criminal record. Despite the lack of proven evidence of gang affiliation or terrorist ties, the United States has made a deal with El Salvador to hold these deportees in the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center prison in El Salvador. Cases like Merwil’s come alongside that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and remains imprisoned there despite a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
For now, however, Merwil, Abrego Garcia and others remain locked up in El Salvador, with the possibility that others will be deported from the U.S. and joining them in detention there. For the families of these deported detainees, the governments of the U.S. and El Salvador are giving them few options as they seek their relatives’ release and return to the United States.
