A man living in Utah was among the prisoners deported to El Salvador on Friday, March 14.
His family said they had no idea where he was from the moment of his detention on January 25 to the day they saw this video of the deportees getting off chartered jets and being moved to a remote prison. They saw their loved one among the deportees.
The president of El Salvador posted a video of the planes. Dozens of soldiers stood by to take the men to the largest prison in Latin America, where they were shackled, shaved, and placed among more than 14,000 inmates.
The man is Juan Jose Ramos, arrested while with his family in a car in Utah. The family told FOX 13 News that they couldn't get any information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Only last Sunday did they learn where he was by spotting him on television.
Patricia Quinones, a leader in Utah's Venezuelan community, talked with FOX 13 for the family. Quinones helps run the social media news site called Utah Zolanos.
She said they learned where Ramos was “because they saw him in the jail video that [El Salvador President] Bukele uploaded on social media on Sunday.”
Quinones said when agents saw Ramos during a traffic stop, they assumed he was “a member of the Tren de Aragua solely for having a tattoo.”
Ramos has a picture of a rose tattooed on his hand.
Ramos' family says he has no criminal record. They also said he was in the country legally and was awaiting an asylum hearing. He arrived in early January and registered on the CBP One app, which the Department of Homeland Security supported before President Trump's inauguration.
“Juan had only been in Utah for a little over a week through the CBP One application. The government was persecuting him because he was participating in the protests demanding elections,” Quinones said, adding that he also wanted to earn more to support his four children.
ICE did not respond to our requests for more information, but a list of the deported Venezuelans obtained and published by CBS News includes the name Juan Jose Ramos.
