Mervin Jose Yamarte Fernandez, who worked day and night at a tortilla factory in Dallas, was hoping to return to Venezuela soon to be with his six-year-old daughter, his mother Mercedes Yamarte told ABC News.
But that would never happen. Yamarte Fernandez is one of the hundreds of Venezuelans who was sent last month to CECOT, the notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, by the Trump administration.
“I would trade places with my son so that he wouldn’t have to go through this,” Yamarte said. “Honestly, I would.”
The Trump administration last month invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador without due process, by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
Yamarte told ABC News Wednesday that her son is not a member of the Venezuelan gang.
“My son is a hard-working boy, he likes sports, and as a mother I know that [President Donald Trump] is wrong,” Yamarte said in Spanish. “We can’t deny there are bad people but there are good ones. They’re putting people there without a trial, without investigating if they are good or bad. The cruelest part is that the good ones are mixed with the bad ones.”
Yamarte said that the government of Venezuela assigned her an attorney who hasn’t “been able to do anything.”
“We don’t know what the charges are,” Yamarte said. “We know nothing to this day. It’s been 24 days and we still don’t know what the charges are or what condition he’s in.”
“It is hard to be unfairly accused of something,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has acknowledged that “many” of the men deported to El Salvador last month lack criminal records in the United States — but said that “the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose” and “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”
Yamarte said that she saw a photo of her son in the CECOT mega-prison, which has been criticized for alleged human rights abuses.
“When I saw that photo, his expression was pleading for help,” Yamarte said in tears. “I feel as if my hands and feet are tied. It’s cruel and it’s hard.”
Yamarte said that her message to Trump would be to remember the families of those involved.
“He should put his hand on his heart, because he is a father and this pain we feel, not just me, but all mothers and fathers, brothers, because he has a son, and the most cherished thing for all of us is our children,” Yamarte said.
