When videos were released showing more than 200 Venezuelan men who had been deported from the U.S. arriving in El Salvador at one of the world’s most dangerous prisons, a woman named Nays recognized one of the faces.
It was her partner, and seeing him in the video filled her with terror, she told CBS News.
Nine months pregnant, Nays, who is still in the U.S., became emotional when she noted, “He’s not going to be there when his child is born.”
Her partner, 29-year-old Henry Albornoz, crossed the southern border more than a year ago. Nays said he had been working as a mechanic in Texas but was detained in January during a routine check-in with federal agents. Contrary to what the Trump administration says, Nays told CBS News her partner “has never been a gang member.”
“He was never involved in any gang activity. He’s a good man. Responsible. Hard working,” she said.
The Trump administration has claimed the men sent to the El Salvador prison known as CECOT were all members of the criminal gang called Tren de Aragua, or TDA.
But last week, CBS News uncovered evidence that Franco José Caraballo Tiapa, a 26-year-old barber who came to the U.S. seeking asylum and was also among the men sent to CECOT, also has no criminal record.
“Border czar” Tom Homan defended the deportations, telling CBS News, “I’ve been told by the highest levels of ICE, the men and women, ICE immigration, custom enforcement who built that manifest, who went to each of these files, spent hundreds and hundreds of hours investigating each and every one of these people that they’re in fact, every one of ’em, member of TDA.”
Homan admitted he has not personally gone over the files and evidence of each individual deported, but reiterated he is “trusting the men and women who do this for a living. I’ll trust the men and women at ICE.”
He also insisted, “Not every gang member has a criminal record.”
A court case is ongoing concerning the deportations to El Salvador, with the Trump administration on Monday invoking state secrets, saying it will not provide any more information to a federal judge as he weighs whether the administration defied his order to turn the planes with the Venezuelan migrants around.
