Colombian-Venezuelan migrant held in El Salvador has no ties to feared gang, wife says

By Carlos Ramirez

SAN ANTONIO DEL TACHIRA, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Colombian-Venezuelan migrant deported from the U.S. over the weekend and being held in a high-security prison in El Salvador has no criminal record or ties to a Venezuelan gang and his rights are being violated, his wife said on Thursday.

President Donald Trump's administration is facing a March 25 deadline to respond to a judicial request for more details on the deportations of hundreds of migrants to El Salvador, as Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg considers whether officials violated his order temporarily blocking the expulsions.

Trump had invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which he said allowed him to deport alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The migrants are being held in El Salvador under an agreement with President Nayib Bukele's government.

Deicy Aldana, 26, said her husband, 26-year-old Colombian-Venezuelan dual citizen Andres Guillermo Morales, had a legal work permit in the United States as part of his U.S. asylum application when he was arrested by ICE in early February. His work authorization was verified independently by Reuters.

Aldana, a Colombian citizen, spoke to Reuters in the Venezuelan city of San Antonio del Tachira, just across the border from Colombia, where she is staying with her mother after returning from the U.S. following her husband's detention in an early morning raid in Denver.

"He's a hard worker," said Aldana, as she held back sobs. "I don't know why they connected him to the Tren de Aragua if he has nothing to do with that, he doesn't have a criminal record in Colombia, he doesn't have a criminal record in Venezuela, if he had one in the United States they would have left him there to serve time."

Aldana shared paperwork showing her husband, who has a Colombian mother and was raised along the two countries' border, has no criminal convictions in Colombia. Reuters confirmed the authenticity of the document with its own records search.

Reuters was not able to immediately find any U.S. criminal convictions for Morales either.

"I'm so worried because he's a human being and they are violating his rights," Aldana said. "It's not fair what they are doing to him and the other Venezuelans for being Venezuelans."

Families of some of the deported men have reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told them their loved ones have tattoos linked to the violent gang.

Morales, who worked for an air conditioning company and then a cement company, had multiple tattoos, Aldana said, but none were connected to any gang. He had his parents' names on his arms, with a clock next to his father's, as well as a star and music notes on his neck and a Bible verse on his ribs.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Morales' case. Aldana, who has two young daughters, said she was told during a call with ICE that her husband is in El Salvador.

Morales had a signed deportation order for Colombia and was told by that country's consulate in San Francisco that he would be deported to Bogota, said Aldana. She said her husband later told her he had signed paperwork changing his deportation to Venezuela.

The Colombian foreign ministry has told her they are following the case, Aldana said. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

"I will do whatever I can to get him out," she said. "I have proof to show he's not a criminal."

(Reporting by Carlos Ramirez in San Antonio del Tachira, additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb, editing by Deepa Babington)