US Wife of CECOT Deportee: "He was seeking asylum... Sometimes I think he's dead"

[Judi Lynn]

Sunday, April 6, 2025
Nelson Rauda Zablah
Leer en español

Jesús Alberto Ríos Andrade, one of the Venezuelans sent by the Donald Trump administration to the Terrorist Confinement Center in El Salvador, is married to a U.S. citizen. When he was detained on February 1 by immigration authorities, he had already started multiple U.S. immigration processes: permanent residency, a work permit, and even Temporary Protected Status.

“To begin with, my husband is not a gang member,” said Angie González, Ríos’ wife, who spoke to El Faro via telephone from El Paso, Texas. “He left home when he was 15 years old. He sold fruit on the street in Colombia and then sold accessories for phones. He learned to cut hair to get into barbershops and cleaned stoves in restaurants. Whatever he could get his hands on, he did,” González said. In the U.S. he was working in construction.

Ríos appears on a list with 238 names of deported Venezuelans, published by CBS and spread by media outlets around the world. El Faro has a copy of the forms sent by González to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), as well as a letter she sent to Democratic Congresswoman Verónica Escobar (TX-16) to request her husband’s case files.

- click this link for image -

https://elfaro.net/get_img?ImageWidth=720&ImageId=41830

Jesús Ríos' wife says she has not been able to communicate with him since March 15. Three flights of deported Venezuelans arrived the next day in El Salvador. Photo: Courtesy

At first, the U.S. and Salvadoran governments officially claimed that every single one of the 261 men sent to CECOT on three flights on March 16 are gang members: MS-13 in the case of the 23 Salvadorans, and Tren de Aragua for the 238 Venezuelans. That narrative soon unraveled: White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt admitted that 101 of the 238 Venezuelans were deported under immigration law. The Salvadoran government told a journalist that “at least 50” of the Venezuelans have no criminal ties.

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202505/el_salvador/27806/us-wife-of-cecot-deportee-he-was-seeking-asylum-hellip-sometimes-i-think-he-rsquo-s-dead

[Blues Heron]

1. This is so incredibly evil

[Solly Mack]

2. ...