Mervin Yamarte, a 29-year-old from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was deported from the US and sent to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison rather than back to Venezuela. His mother identified him in television footage of shackled Venezuelan deportees and said she "threw myself on the floor, saying that God couldn't do this to my son." Yamarte had crossed into the US through the Darién Gap in 2023 with three friends and worked long shifts at a tortilla factory in Dallas, Texas, playing football with friends on Sundays; his mother and friends deny he had any gang involvement. He was deported under the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed removal without formal charges.