On March 13, Nedizon Alejandro Leon Rengel contacted his brother, Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, to wish him a happy birthday.
Alejandro never heard from him. Adrián was detained by federal authorities while on his way to work at a Dallas barbershop.
Alejandro spent the following five weeks searching for Adrián, attempting to figure out where he was: had he been deported to another country? Are you being held in a United States immigration facility?
He and Adrián’s live-in girlfriend contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, moving from office to office with varying results.
They were sometimes informed that Adrián was still detained. Another time, they were informed that he had been deported to “his country of origin,” El Salvador. According to Alejandro, their mother went to a detention center in Caracas, Venezuela, where deportees are housed when they arrive from the United States, but was told that no one by her son’s name was there.
They sought the assistance of advocacy groups. Cristosal, a nonprofit group in El Salvador that works with families of putative deportees to obtain answers from the US and Salvadoran governments, received no response. The same goes for the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC.
Alejandro’s 6-year-old niece questioned him practically every day, “When will my dad call me?”
“For 40 days, his family has been waiting to hear his fate,” LULAC CEO Juan Proaño said.
Finally, on Tuesday, a response. The Department of Homeland Security verified to NBC News that Adrián had been deported—to El Salvador.
Despite the fact that Adrián is from Venezuela. The news “saddens me a lot” and “shatters me,” Alejandro stated after learning of his brother’s whereabouts via NBC News.
When asked if Adrián had been taken to CECOT, El Salvador’s mega-prison, the DHS did not react. However, Alejandro is concerned that this is the case, given the large number of Venezuelans who were transferred to CECOT from Texas a few days following his detention.
“There, [El Salvador President Nayib] Bukele says demons enter their hell,” Alejandro remarked of the prison while speaking on the phone from his eatery. “My brother isn’t a criminal. At the moment, I’m not feeling well. “The news hit me like a bucket of cold water.”
The Rengel family’s story is similar to those of others who have encountered the Trump administration’s major deportation attempts, with family members seemingly disappearing after being detained by immigration authorities.
The administration has prioritized deporting males suspected of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which it has branded as a foreign terrorist organization under the Alien Enemies Act, enacted during the 1700s war.
“Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel, entered our country illegally in 2023 from Venezuela and is an associate of Tren De Aragua,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News via email. “The Tren de Aragua is a ruthless gang that rapes, maims, and murders for amusement. President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem will not allow foreign terrorists to operate in our country, endangering Americans. They will always prioritize the safety of the American people.
When asked for specifics and papers supporting the DHS’ charges of crime, McLaughlin stated, “We aren’t going to divulge intelligence reports and jeopardize national security every time a gang member denies being one. “That would be insane.”
Adrian’s family denies he is part of the gang.
“For me, it’s a forced disappearance, because he’s not communicating with anyone, they’re not permitting him a right to anything, and they’re not giving him a right to a defense — from what I understand, here we’re all innocent until it’s proved contrary,” Alejandro told CNN.
“Then the only offense we have here is to be a migrant and be Venezuelan, and now the government has turned against this nationality,” he stated, adding that the authorities believe “we all belong to Tren de Aragua.”
Adrián, 27, arrived in the United States in 2023 via appointment through the CBP One app. Alejandro sent NBC News a copy of a document verifying his brother’s June 12, 2023 appointment.
Adrián had also requested for temporary protected status, according to a document dated December 1, 2024, from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of DHS that administers immigration benefits.
Adrián’s automobile broke down in November, so he shared a trip with a coworker, according to Alejandro. Police in Irving, Texas, stopped the coworker, who had outstanding traffic infractions, and detained both after discovering a marijuana trimmer in the coworker’s vehicle, Alejandro said.
Adrián was charged with a Class C misdemeanor for possessing drug paraphernalia, which carries a punishment of up to $500.
“I don’t know why that charge was leveled against him, because first, it wasn’t his car,” said Alejandro, who is 32. “Second, the belongings in the car were not his.”
According to the documents provided by Alejandro, Adrián pleaded guilty/no contest (the paperwork does not say which) and was fined $492. Alejandro explained that his brother was paying the fine in monthly installments.
Adrián had a royal tattoo on his hand that read “Y,” the first letter of his ex-wife’s name, according to Alejandro. When he was arrested in November, authorities informed him that they had linked him to Tren de Aragua “because of that tattoo,” Alejandro explained.
That’s why he later covered it up with a tiger tattoo, Alejandro explained. ICE has identified tattoos, particularly crown tattoos, as signs of Tren de Aragua participation. Adrián also has a tattoo with his mother’s name on one of his biceps.
We are not criminals. We are individuals who studied professions in Venezuela. We have careers; we are not associated with any of it,” said Alejandro, who previously worked in finance and insurance in Venezuela and other Latin American countries but now works in a restaurant.
Adrián graduated from high school in Venezuela with a science focus, according to Alejandro, and later studied barbering despite the country’s poor economy.
Adrián moved to Colombia with his then-wife and daughter and worked there for a number of years. When the situation grew insecure, he returned to Venezuela with his wife and daughter before traveling to Mexico to apply for a CBP One appointment to enter the United States.
Adrián traveled to the United States “because we all know the political, social, and economic situation in Venezuela” and intended to earn enough money to buy a house for his daughter back home, according to Alejandro.
Alejandro admitted that before he received confirmation that his brother was in El Salvador, he would sometimes get on his knees to pray. “I’ve had moments where I think ‘at any moment he’s going to call’ and then moments when I’m shattered and I don’t know what to do.”
“I never, ever thought I would go through a situation like this,” he said, adding that the only thing he expected when he arrived in the United States as a migrant was that “they either give you asylum or deport you.” “Not a forced disappearance.”