As May Day protests call for worker and immigrant rights, we talk to a New York father whose 19-year-old son Merwil Gutiérrez, with an open asylum case, was detained in the Bronx and then flown with over 230 other Venezuelans to a mega-prison in El Salvador, where he is being held incommunicado. Witnesses to Gutiérrez’s arrest say authorities were searching for a different person but, upon encountering the teenager, decided to arrest him simply because he is Venezuelan. He has no criminal history and no tattoos, the features Trump officials have used to accuse Latin American immigrants of being gang members and expel them from the country without due process. Wilmer Gutiérrez says he fears for his son’s safety. “We came here with a dream. We did not think that this injustice was ever going to happen … They shattered our dreams,” said Gutiérrez. We also speak with Ethar El-Katatney, editor-in-chief of Documented, the nonprofit newsroom that broke the story of Gutiérrez’s arrest. Wilmer Gutiérrez is calling on the governments of the United States and El Salvador to facilitate his son’s release. “My son is still a child. His mentality has not matured yet. And right now they are damaging his mind … They are violating all the laws and doing whatever they want.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! | Radio Free (2025-05-01T12:24:56+00:00) “They Shattered Our Dreams”: NY Father Recounts How ICE Snatched His Son & Sent Him to El Salvador. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/05/01/they-shattered-our-dreams-ny-father-recounts-how-ice-snatched-his-son-sent-him-to-el-salvador-2/
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