His Family Has Spent Months Trying To Free Him From CECOT. They Finally Reunited.
But on Friday evening, some of these families were reunited as the result of a prisoner swap that returned 252 men in CECOT to Venezuela, in exchange for Venezuela releasing 10 Americans it had seized.
Earlier that day, rumors of the swap began trickling through the community of CECOT family members, who had spent months fighting to bring their loved ones home. Some received phone calls from the Venezuelan government and spread the word to others through an unofficial phone tree. Those who could make the trip traveled to Maiquetia, where the detainees were expected to arrive. Those who couldn't travel anxiously searched for photos or videos of the plane landing, hoping to catch a glimpse of their loved ones disembarking.
For months, CECOT detainees had been held incommunicado with no access to their families or lawyers. The only proof of life some family members received was when they were able to spot their loved one on propaganda materials released by government officials.
A little after 9 p.m. local time Friday, Ydalys Chirinos-Polanco texted HuffPost a photo of her beaming next to her 25-year-old son, Ysqueibel Yonaiquer Peñaloza Chirinos. They posed behind a sign that read in Spanish: 'Welcome to your country Venezuela. You don't know how long we've waited for this moment. God bless you always.'
Chirinos also shared a video of her son surrounded by family, clamoring to hug and kiss him. In a voice memo to HuffPost, Chirinos expressed gratitude for a 'wonderful joy' and 'beautiful miracle.'
'My son is with me again. Thank you, thank you, my god, thank you,' she said in Spanish.
Peñaloza is one of many former CECOT detainees who came to the U.S. legally and had pending asylum claims when U.S. officials abruptly flew them to El Salvador in March. He came to the U.S. through a pre-scheduled appointment on CBP One, the cellphone app used by the Biden administration to process asylum seekers. Peñaloza had a legal right to make a case in immigration court as to why he should stay in the U.S.
But before he could exercise that right, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority last used in World War II, and claimed that a gang called Tren de Aragua was essentially an invading army working with the Venezuelan government. The Trump administration claimed that the Venezuelans it sent to CECOT were Tren de Aragua members, but has provided little evidence beyond common tattoos to support these allegations.
'He left Venezuela for a better future and it turned into a nightmare,' Chirinos told The Independent.
Peñaloza and the other men were flown to CECOT in defiance of a court order and held indefinitely without charge. The U.S. government paid the Salvadoran government millions of dollars to detain them. Once forcibly removed from the U.S., government officials began asking immigration judges to dismiss their pending immigration cases, citing the fact that they were no longer present in the U.S.
Peñaloza, who was one of at least 60 CECOT detainees with pending asylum claims, had his case dismissed while he was detained in El Salvador. Margaret Cargioli, a lawyer with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, was prepared to argue his case in court without him, but the judge canceled the hearing ahead of time.
'While the Trump administration disappears human beings to countries around the world without due process, it will take all of us, from all over the world, to help free the human beings callously sent to dangerous places such as CECOT and prevent others from experiencing the same cruel fate,' Cargioli said in a statement on Friday.
Related...
Trump Sent Them To Hell. Now He's Erasing Them Altogether.
Prisoner Swap Will Return Trump's CECOT Detainees To Venezuela
Lawyers Are Sounding The Alarm About Trump Disappearing People
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump: ‘I'll be watching the WITCH HUNT of Jair Bolsonaro'
President Trump rallied in defense of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial in Brazil's Supreme Court on charges that he plotted a coup in 2022 after losing the election to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 'I'll be watching the WITCH HUNT of Jair Bolsonaro, his family, and thousands of his supporters, very closely. The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil — It's called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. Trump's 'witch hunt' reference harks back to rhetoric the president has used to characterize investigations into his own alleged misconduct in recent years. Trump nodded to the similarities in his post Monday. 'This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the 'HOTTEST' in the World! The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President,' Trump wrote. Trump defended Bolsonaro as 'a strong Leader, who truly loved his Country,' and said, 'Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro.' 'I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year! He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE,' Trump added. Lula appeared to respond to Trump's remarks in a post on social platform X. 'The defense of democracy in Brazil is a matter for Brazilians. We are a sovereign country. We do not accept interference or guardianship from anyone. We have solid and independent institutions,' Lula wrote, according to a translation of the statement. 'No one is above the law. Above all, those who attack freedom and the rule of law,' he added. Bolsonaro and 33 allies are facing trial over an alleged plot to overturn the 2022 presidential election results and remain in power. They were charged with five counts related to the plan. The former president has denied the allegations; he claims he's the target of political persecution. He could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted. The far-right leader is barred from running for office until 2030. Brazil's Superior Electoral Court ruled last year that he abused his political power and made baseless claims about the country's electronic voting system. The Associated Press contributed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rubio revokes visas of Brazilian judge, allies over Bolsonaro prosecution
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced late Friday that the visas of Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, his 'allies on the court' and immediate family members have been revoked over the ongoing 'political witch hunt' against Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro. '[President Trump] made clear that his administration will hold accountable foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,' Rubio, who is also President Trump's national security adviser, wrote in a post on social platform X. He continued, 'Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes's political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil's shores to target Americans.' 'I have therefore ordered visa revocations for Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members effective immediately,' the secretary of state added. The announcement came just hours after Brazil's top court released restraining orders and search warrants against Bolsonaro — preventing him from getting in touch with foreign officials. Authorities placed an ankle monitor on the embattled former leader and his home was raided by police. Moraes, in a Friday court decision, blocked Bolsonaro — who was charged last year for trying to overturn the nation's 2022 presidential election — from using social media. The judge cited the possibility of him trying to flee the country, which the ex-president denied. Last week, Trump upped the pressure on Brazil, threatening to slap a 50 percent tariff on the South American country on all items over the ongoing prosecution of Bolsonaro over election fraud claims. 'I feel supreme humiliation,' the former leader said in a recent interview with Reuters. 'I am 70 years old, I was president of the republic for four years.' Bolsonaro and some of his allies, who argue the case is politically charged, were indicted in February for an alleged 'coup,' and efforts to stay in power after the 2022 election, which he lost to now-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He has also been barred from seeking office until 2030. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Venezuelans deported by Trump to brutal El Salvador prison are transferred to Caracas in exchange for Americans
Dozens of Venezuelans that Donald Trump had deported to a brutal prison in El Salvador have been sent back to their home country under a bilateral deal to secure the release of Americans locked up in Venezuela. Under the deal, more than 200 Venezuelans summarily deported to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, were flown to Caracas on Friday. In exchange, the Venezuelan government delivered five U.S. citizens and five lawful permanent residents back to American custody. The prisoner swap follows the Trump administration's allegedly bungled efforts to try to release Americans imprisoned in Venezuela in exchange for sending home dozens of men that the administration accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members. The release of Venezuelans who have been imprisoned at the facility for more than four months could also potentially expose what they experienced inside and what conditions are like for hundreds of people languishing inside the notorious prison. So far, only one person deported from the United States to CECOT has made it back. The Trump administration negotiated a deal for the release of American prisoners in Venezuela in exchange for dozens of Venezuelans who were deported from the United States to a brutal prison in El Salvador (EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENCY PRESS OFFICE) Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran father who was living in Maryland, was abruptly returned to the United States after a weeks-long court battle over his arrest and removal. Administration officials initially said he was deported by mistake before repeatedly insisting the U.S. government no longer had jurisdiction over him. Last month, he was returned to face a federal criminal indictment in Tennessee accusing him of smuggling immigrants across the country. A recent court filing detailed for the first time what current conditions at the Salvadoran prison are like for the dozens of Venezuelan immigrants still inside. Abrego Garcia was subject to 'severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture' at the facility, according to his attorneys. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele confirmed the prisoner exchange on Friday afternoon, saying his administration 'handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua.' The exchange includes 'a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners, people that regime had kept in its prisons for years, as well as all the American citizens it was holding as hostages,' he said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Americans are 'on their way to freedom' as he thanked the State Department and Bukele's administration 'for helping secure an agreement for the release of all of our American detainees, plus the release of Venezuelan political prisoners.' Despite the Trump administration's claims that deportees sent to the notorious maximum-security prison were no longer the responsibility of the United States, officials have been using them as a bargaining chip in a weeks-in-the-making prisoner exchange. But those competing negotiations, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in one camp and presidential envoy Richard Grenell in another, had appeared to fall apart until Friday's alleged breakthrough. CECOT, branded a 'tropical gulag' by human rights groups, is the largest prison in Latin America, which the Trump administration has contracted to detain dozens of alleged Tren de Aragua members deported from the United States (POOL/AFP via Getty Images) Their return had been a long-standing demand of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Nayib Bukele's regime and the Trump administration of committing human rights abuses by locking up immigrants in the Salvadoran prison, labelled by humanitarian groups as a 'tropical gulag' and concentration camp. Roughly 250 Venezuelans were deported to El Salvador's brutal Terrorism Confinement Center beginning March 15, when Trump invoked a centuries-old wartime law that labelled alleged Tren de Aragua gang members 'alien enemies' who could be removed from the country without due process. The White House claims that Maduro directed an 'invasion' of gang members into the country — contradicting reports from U.S. intelligence agencies. Government attorneys argued that the United States no longer has jurisdiction over deportees after ignoring emergency court orders that blocked their arrival in El Salvador. But Salvadoran authorities recently told the United Nations that the 'legal responsibility for these people lie exclusively' with the U.S. government. Bukele had first hinted at prospects of a 'humanitarian agreement' with the countries in April, weeks after agreeing to imprison U.S. deportees in CECOT. Venezuelan officials, meanwhile, had dismissed the proposal and demanded the return of their 'kidnapped' countrymen. Several federal judges have temporarily blocked immigration officials from deporting more Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, teeing up yet another Supreme Court battle challenging the president's sweeping executive actions related to his anti-immigration agenda. Lawyers for deported immigrants inside CECOT have argued for class-action relief, which would give them an opportunity to challenge allegations against them in court. 'Significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those currently entombed in CECOT have no connection to the gang and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations,' District Judge James Boasberg wrote last month.
