5 days ago
Soccer coach who says he was deported to CECOT over his tattoo celebrates his release
On Wednesday, more than a dozen children in lime green soccer uniform surrounded Jerce Reyes Barrios, hugging and jumping on their former coach as onlookers cheered. Earlier in the week, hundreds of residents of the Venezuelan town of Machiques de Perija lined the street and cheered as a Venezuelan National Guard truck pulled into town to drop Reyes Barrios off at his home.
The crowd threw confetti, jumped up and down, and joyfully roared as he exited the vehicle.
The exuberant homecoming was in stark contrast to the welcome he received in March at El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, where he says he and over 200 other Venezuelan nationals, accused by the Trump administration of being members of the gang Tren de Aragua, were violently ushered into the facility.
MORE: Man deported under Alien Enemies Act because of soccer logo tattoo: Attorney
"Welcome to hell on earth, where you will be condemned and spend the rest of your life, where I will make sure you never eat chicken or meat again," Reyes Barrios recalled one prison guard allegedly telling the men.
"That was when I shed my first tear and thought, wow -- my first time being psychologically abused," he told ABC News in an interview Friday, speaking in Spanish from his home in Venezuela, after being released from CECOT in a prisoner swap last week.
Reyes Barrios and his fellow detainees were deported from the U.S. when the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act -- an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process -- by arguing that Tren de Aragua is a "hybrid criminal state" that is invading the United States.
An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged shortly afterward that "many" of the men deported on March 15 lacked criminal records in the United States -- but said that "the lack of specific information about each individual" actually "demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile."
In March, ABC News reported about Reyes Barrios' imprisonment after his attorney, Linette Tobin, submitted a sworn declaration and documents in court she said backed up her claim that her client had no criminal record in Venezuela or the United States, was employed as a professional soccer player and youth coach, and was falsely accused of being a gang member because of his tattoo which showed a crown on top of a soccer ball with a rosary and the word "Dios," meaning "God."
Reyes Barrios' family echoed what his attorney said in court filings, and told ABC News that his tattoo was modeled after the Real Madrid soccer team logo.
"I got the tattoo because my favorite team is Real Madrid, which has a crown on top of a circle symbolizing the ball, that's why I got it," Reyes Barrios told ABC News. "For me, soccer is the king of sports so it correlates with the soccer ball with the crown."
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a statement to ABC News, said, "DHS intelligence assessments go beyond tattoos, and we are confident in our findings. We aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane."
'We were practically lied to'
Reyes Barrios crossed the U.S.-Mexico border legally through the CBP One app in September 2025, but was accused of being a Tren de Aragua member and was detained at a facility under maximum security, court records show.
"The investigator ... sees my tattoos and tells me this tattoo belongs to the Tren de Aragua gang. I was unaware of (the gang) because in Venezuela you don't really see that," Reyes Barrios said.
MORE: 'You're going to see real hell': Venezuelan men allege physical and psychological abuse at Salvadoran prison
DHS accused Reyes Barrios of having a gang-affiliated tattoo and also claimed there were photos showing him displaying gang signs. According to Tobin's declaration, those alleged gang signs were the hand symbols for "rock and roll" and "I love you" in sign language.
After Tobin presented information about his lack of a criminal record and the source of the tattoo, which included a sworn declaration from the tattoo artist who designed it, Reyes Barrios was transferred out of maximum security.
Despite having a court hearing set for April 17, he was transferred to a detention facility in Texas and was promptly deported to El Salvador on March 15, along with over 200 other men. He says ICE officials did not tell the men where they were being sent before they boarded the plane.
"There were three planes, everyone clapping because we were going to Venezuela," he said.
On the plane, ICE officials ordered the men to keep the windows closed.
"The surprise for us -- when we landed in San Salvador," he said. "We were practically lied to."
'We could hear screams'
The violent intake process at CECOT was caught on camera and published on social media by Trump administration officials and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele. Reyes Barrios said that once inside the prison, their heads were shaved and they were stripped naked and given prison uniforms. He claims guards beat the men throughout the entire process -- but the real terror started when the men were ushered into "Module 8."
"You felt the tension entering that module because we could hear screams. We saw blood, we saw vomit ... people were fainting," he said. It was at that moment that he said a prison official welcomed the men to "hell on earth."
From that moment on, Reyes Barrios said the men were not only isolated from other prisoners, but were also cut off from the world. They were unaware, he said, that a federal judge had unsuccessfully ordered the Trump administration to turn their planes around when the ACLU filed an emergency motion in court.
"We couldn't see the sun, I mean, we didn't know anything. We said that we had been forgotten, that we were literally going to die there, that no one was fighting for us," he said.
The men were regularly beaten, he said. Their beards grew long and unkept. He said the lights inside their crowded cells were kept on and the guards would regularly beat their batons against the bars to keep the men from sleeping during the day.
When members of the Red Cross or other officials would visit the prison, Reyes Barrios says the prisoners were handed clean clothes and allowed to shower. They were given better food to maintain the appearance that they were being treated well, he said.
"They would take one cell to supposedly go play soccer," he said. "They would have us pretend to play for five minutes, record a video, take a photo, and then back inside. No one else would go out. "
The men passed the time playing games and exercising. Reyes Barrios said he read the Bible as he fell into depression.
"I read a lot about Job's story because just as God gave Job the patience to endure everything that happened to him, I asked God to give me patience."
Then, more than three months into their imprisonment, the men began to suspect something strange was happening when they were given haircuts.
MORE: Migrants sent to El Salvador's CECOT returned to Venezuela in prisoner swap, 10 Americans freed: Officials
At two in the morning, a guard told the men they had 20 minutes to shower. They started to suspect they were about to be released, Reyes Barrios said.
"We start clapping, because they never send us to shower at two in the morning," he said.
They were each given plain clothes, sneakers, and a sweater.
"Some started crying and that moment was beautiful," he said.
On July 18, more than 250 Venezuelan migrants were freed by El Salvador and transported to Venezuela. In exchange, the Venezuela's Maduro regime agreed to release 10 American prisoners from their custody.
'Am I dreaming?'
A video taken by Reyes Barrios' sister showed the tearful moment he hugged his father after arriving back in his hometown of Machiques de Perija.
"Could it be true or am I dreaming?" he says he asks himself now that he has been freed. "I pinch myself, yes it's real."
"That welcome the people gave me, I didn't expect it, but that shows the U.S. government that I'm not a criminal," he said.
Reyes Barrios says he has no plans of returning to the United States at the moment, but he fears being detained again. A team of lawyers is advising him on filing a potential lawsuit, but he has not yet made a decision.
He said he's focused on spending time with his daughters and with God.
"At night I would ask God to show me my future in dreams -- what will become of my life," Reyes Barrios recalled of his time in CECOT.
"I dreamed of being in my town with my daughters with my parents, and I'd head straight to the soccer field," he said.
