Wilmer Gutiérrez last saw his son the morning of Feb. 24. Later that day, his nephew called to tell him that 19-year-old Merwil Gutiérrez had been arrested just steps from their shared apartment in the Bronx. “The officers grabbed him and two other boys right at the entrance to our building,” he recalled. “One said, ‘No, he’s not the one,’ like they were looking for someone else. But the other said, ‘Take him anyway.’”
Merwil was among the 238 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, according to Documented, a newsroom reporting on immigrant communities in New York City. He has no criminal record, neither in Venezuela nor the U.S, per the outlet, and does not have any tattoos, which is one of the criteria ICE officers use to claim migrants are members of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang.
William Parra, an attorney at Inmigración Al Día, the law firm representing his case, says Merwil’s detention was unjustified as he has an immigration court case pending with his father and was taking the proper steps to formalize their situation. “Merwil was detained for hanging out with friends and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. ICE was not looking for him, nor is there any evidence whatsoever that Merwil was in any gang,” said Parra.
The father and son arrived in the U.S. in 2023, along with Merwil’s grandfather and cousin. The family had fled Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship and come to America in hopes of economic stability. Before he was arrested, Merwil had received his immigration papers and had a court date scheduled for February 2027.
Wilmer has struggled to understand why his teenage son was sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison tied to allegations of torture, extrajudicial killings, and other human rights abuses. “I feel like my son was kidnapped,” said Wilmer. “I’ve spent countless hours searching for him, going from one precinct to another, speaking with numerous people who kept referring me elsewhere. Yet, after all this, no one has given me any information or provided a single document about his case.”
“I could have understood if he’d been sent back to Venezuela,” he said before asking: “But why to a foreign country he’s never even been to?”
CBS’ 60 Minutes released a report that found 75 percent of the Venezuelans — 179 men — deported by the Trump administration in March had no apparent criminal record. The migrants — who the administration claimed had ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua — were sent to El Salvador without any due process.
The Department of Homeland Security later admitted it had wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an innocent man with protected status, to CECOT due to an “administrative error.” Despite being ordered by the Supreme Court to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S., the Trump administration has openly disregarded the ruling.
On Tuesday, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Stefania Vasquez Sura — who is an American citizen — pleaded with the Trump administration and El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, to “stop playing political games with the life of Kilmar.”
“Today is 34 days after his disappearance, and I stand before you filled with a spirit that refuses to bring down,” she said before a crowd of reporters and protestors. “Enough is enough,” she concluded. “My family can’t be robbed of another day without seeing Kilmar. This administration has already taken so much from my children, from Kilmar’s mother, brother, sisters, and me.”
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