A 19-year-old was deported to El Salvador after he was detained by New York Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who were reportedly looking for a different person.
Merwil Gutiérrez is now in the notorious maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) after being apprehended on February 24.
His family has insisted he has no criminal history in the U.S. or his native Venezuela, nor any links to criminal gangs—“not even a tattoo,” which ICE uses to target alleged gang members.
Merwil Gutiérrez and his father left Venezuela in 2023 and had a pending U.S. immigration court case
Image credits: Anna Watts for Documented
Gutiérrez’s father, Wilmer Gutiérrez, spoke to a news organization dedicated to reporting about immigrant communities in New York.
“I’ve spent countless hours searching for him, going from one precinct to another, speaking with numerous people who kept referring me elsewhere.
“Yet, after all this, no one has given me any information or provided a single document about his case,” he added.
Gutiérrez said the ICE agents knew they were not looking for his son but detained him anyway when he was just a few steps from his home in the Bronx.
Image credits: Anna Watts for Documented
“The officers grabbed him and two other boys right at the entrance to our building. One said, ‘No, he’s not the one,’ like they were looking for someone else. But the other said, ‘Take him anyway.'”
On March 14, Gutiérrez briefly spoke to Merwil on the phone.
It was his understanding that he was being transferred from Pennsylvania to Texas and then to Venezuela.
When a news report listed Merwil with 238 Venezuelans who had been detained under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, he found out his son had been deported to El Salvador.
“I could have understood if he’d been sent back to Venezuela,” he said. “But why to a foreign country he’s never even been to?”
The father and son had left Venezuela in May 2023 and had applied for temporary protected status. Their court date was scheduled for February 2027.
Inmigración Al Día, the firm representing Merwil, said that since he has an immigration court case pending, his deportation is unjustified.
“Merwil was detained for hanging out with friends and was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” attorney William Parra said.
“ICE was not looking for him, nor is there any evidence whatsoever that Merwil was in any gang.”
The Trump administration said all 238 Venezuelans who were deported to El Salvador were members of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua.
Hundreds of people have been deported from the U.S. to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador
Image credits: Alex Peña / Getty Image
A further 23 people, who the administration alleged were part of the M-13 gang, were deported on the same day.
Among those was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported, with his lawyer saying there is no proof he is linked to any gang.
On Monday, Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele met in the White House.
The two leaders said there was “no basis” to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, previously told reporters that the ICE arrests included “collaterals.”
“Most of them were criminals, but many were collaterals," Homan said. “How come the collaterals? I’ve said this a thousand times—sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in the community and more collateral arrests.”
Homan was unable to provide specific numbers on collateral arrests but said many of those arrested were dangerous criminals.