Jesús Escalona Mújicas, a 48-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker, claims he was en path to operate at a building and construction website on the early morning of April 9 when a team of migration representatives and state and government law enforcement officer quit his automobile in a backwoods near Bryan– an occasion that caused him being apprehended, openly implicated of subscription in a multinational jail gang, and deported.
According to a Texas Division of Public Safety And Security (DPS) apprehension record, the policemans were with DPS, the Federal Bureau of Examination (FBI), and Migration and Traditions Enforcement (ICE). Escalona Mújicas informed the Texas Observer that a person of the representatives stated he had a superior expulsion order, an insurance claim he challenged by stating he had momentary approval to be right here and a pending asylum instance. (ICE, by means of an agent, keeps that he “had no migration advantages that stopped his apprehension and elimination.”) Yet the information of any kind of migration instance of his really did not appear to matter. In a meeting, Escalona Mújicas stated he was informed he would certainly been targeted under an 18th-century legislation being revitalized by the Trump Management– the Alien Enemies Act. Representatives after that took him to a gasoline station car park where he was implicated of coming from Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang marked by the USA as an international terrorist company.
That exact same day, ICE provided a news release introducing Escalona Mújicas’s apprehension and calling him a “recorded Tren de Aragua gang participant,” gone along with by an image of him using a camouflage John Deere sweatshirt, silver manacles, and a dewy-eyed expression.
But coverage by the Observer calls into question ICE’s case. Days after the apprehension, Oswaldo Azuaje, a close friend, assisted begin a social media sites project in Venezuela in an effort to clear Escalona Mújica’s name: “He has actually never ever been locked up or had a rap sheet. His life has actually constantly been noted by effort and stability. He has no link to the Tren de Aragua instance,” Azuaje composed. In mid-July, the Observer reached Escalona Mújicas in Venezuela by phone, and he remembered being stunned by the accusation. “Me? A gang participant? I’m an individual with excellent conduct,” he stated. A daddy of 2 teen women, he stated he would certainly never ever come across Tren de Aragua up until after his arrival in Texas.
Prior to emigrating, Escalona Mújicas benefited the exact same company, Empresas Polar, a Venezuelan Pepsi associate, for almost twenty years. He has no criminal background or document of gang task in Texas and just web traffic tickets in Venezuela, according to a search of united state and Venezuelan public documents and meetings. In a meeting, one more Venezuelan buddy and previous next-door neighbor, María Iriza Mendoza, denied the gang complaint, calling him a “extremely tireless guy.” Back in Venezuela, she stated, “He really did not also have vices.”
In March, Head of state Donald Trump authorized an announcement proclaiming that Tren de Aragua was getting into the USA and conjuring up the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a war-time legislation that his management is making use of to fast-track expatriations– without due procedure– of immigrants implicated of coming from criminal gangs. Venezuelans, that showed up in multitudes recently and in most cases got Biden-era momentary securities, have actually been distinguished as a target for Trump’s strongly anti-immigrant plans.
The exact same month, the management flew greater than 200 Venezuelans to a megaprison in El Salvador– most of whom had no rap sheets. One guy was misidentified, maybe as a result of a mixup with one more individual whose picture showed up in a Texas gang data source. United state authorities have actually made use of tattoos and clothes things to identify Tren de Aragua subscription, although specialists informed the Observer that these can not be made use of as reputable signs. Escalona Mújicas has no tattoos.
Police body electronic camera video footage acquired by the Observer only reveals a part of the web traffic quit and Escalona Mújicas’ apprehension. Yet it’s clear from the recordings that the ambush was intended. In his recording, DPS police officer Erik Zani stated: “He gets on his method. We’re possibly 300 lawns behind him. He’s simply driving actual sluggish, like he did recently. He’s still boiling down to strategy that four-way quit. He must be arriving any kind of min currently.” Secs later on, alarms go off.
By Escalona Mújicas’ account, prior to he opened his automobile door at the web traffic quit, a representative informed him “The Head of state does not intend to see Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans, or Venezuelans right here.” The Observer did not acquire video footage of that discussion. At the very least 5 patrol cars and 7 policemans bordered Escalona Mújicas, according to video footage taped by 3 DPS policemans. A min after alarms appeared, Escalona Mújicas was pushed versus his automobile with his hands behind his back and lit up just by red and blue cops emergency situation lights, video clip reveals.
Among the jailing policemans was DPS Unique Representative Garrett Burkhart, that had actually been especially asked to help FBI and ICE “with the uneasiness of a TREN DE ARAGUA gang participant,” according to a DPS apprehension record. That record mistakenly recognized Escalona Mujica’s citizenship– recognizing him as “an alien of El Salvadorian beginning without lawful condition in the USA.”
Escalona Mújicas is Venezuelan instead of Salvadoran, according to public documents, a news release from ICE, and Escalona Mújicas himself.
Burkhart saw as various other representatives apprehended Escalona Mújicas, video clips reveal. ” You have an order for apprehension with migration,” one more representative informed Escalona Mújicas in Spanish. “Do you recognize? Do you recognize? What is your total name?” Burkhart after that left as various other policemans cuffed him. “Cameras off!” one more screamed, prior to the recording finishes.
Escalona Mújicas stated he was after that implicated of gang connections at a gasoline station; in reaction to a documents demand, DPS stated that although a representative existed in the meeting, the firm did not have a recording.
The Observer shared the information of Escalona Mújicas’ instance, consisting of the DPS apprehension record, with specialists that stated they questioned ICE and DPS had actually targeted the ideal person. “To be absolutely honest, it seems like they screwed up,” stated Mike LaSusa, replacement supervisor of web content and an investigatory scientist at Understanding Criminal activity, a brain trust and newsroom that has actually investigated and reported on Tren de Aragua. LaSusa kept in mind especially that DPS misidentified Escalona Mújicas as Salvadoran. “This isn’t an indicator of solid knowledge job, if they can not obtain the individual’s citizenship right.”
The DPS record itself likewise mentions that Escalona Mújicas did not show up in TxGANG, Texas’ problem-plagued gang data source: “While enough standards was not offered to record ESCALONA MUJICAS as a gang participant in TXGANG, SA Burkhart was encouraged that the USA Attaché in Guatemala had actually recorded ESCALONA MUJICAS as a TREN DE ARAGUA gang participant.”
Escalona Mújicas informed the Observer he travelled through Guatemala briefly en path from Venezuela to Texas. While on a bus moving via the nation, he clarified, united state and Guatemalan authorities quit him and a couple of others, tweezing them out of a team of guests at a checkpoint in Coatepeque, a community about 20 miles from the Mexican boundary. Escalona Mújicas did not recall which firm the united state authorities collaborated with; he stated they put on attires with united state flags and seemed soldiers.
The various other males chosen from the team, Escalona Mújicas kept in mind, had tattoos of trains, crowns, or Air Jordan tennis shoes. Authorities took his ID and key details, gathered his finger prints, and photographed him and his Air Jordans– which they declared were an icon of gang subscription, he stated.
Kristin Etter, supervisor of plan and lawful solutions at the Texas Migration Legislation Council, revealed shock at DPS’s use abroad knowledge from a united state attaché– a government authorities that’s designated to an international polite objective or consular office– to attempt to mark a person in the USA as a gang participant. She was likewise surprised by the wrong citizenship in the DPS record. “It shows up that nearly whatever regarding this record is incorrect. So, that recognizes whether that was purposefully so, or simply as a result of careless cops job,” Etter stated.
The FBI and DPS did not react to Observer requests for remark. When inquired about evidence of Escalona Mújicas’ gang association, ICE speaker Tim Oberle supplied a declaration “Attributable to an Elderly DHS Authorities” that stated Escalona Mújicas had actually gotten in the nation unlawfully and had an energetic order of elimination. (The Observer was incapable to confirm Escalona Mújicas’ insurance claims on the contrary; united state migration court documents are not public, and he stated he left his records in the automobile at the time of his apprehension.)
The ICE declaration proceeded: “We are positive in our police’s knowledge, and we aren’t mosting likely to share knowledge records and weaken nationwide protection whenever a gang participant refutes he is one. That would certainly be outrageous.”
During his month in ICE apprehension, liked ones feared he would certainly be sent out to CECOT, the megaprison in El Salvador. “My mama, my father, everybody was walking around frightened. My sibling, my sis, my nephew, you have no concept,” he stated.
Escalona Mújicas was deported to Venezuela on Might 1, according to ICE. In a meeting, he remembered sharing an airplane with 300 others, done in irons. It had actually been nearly 3 years because he would certainly been given up from his task as a forklift driver at Empresas Polar, the Pepsi associate, leading him on his trip via the treacherous Darien Void, throughout Central America, and ultimately to Texas.
When he talked to the Observer in mid-July, he stated he was preparing to emigrate once more: this moment, to Spain, a nation that has less migration constraints for Venezuelans. In mid-August, Escalona Mújicas talked to the Observer once more by phone– currently from Madrid, where he started a brand-new building and construction job today.
Even though ICE has actually declined to supply details to corroborate its insurance claims, specialists consisting of Etter from the Texas Migration Legislation Council stated the effects of journalism launch identifying him as a gang participant might last.
” That might be a problem that might follow him, truly, the remainder of his life.”
Valentina Lares and Laura Weffer of the The Mob and Corruption Coverage Task added to this report.
