Texas Authorities Deported Migrant After Labeling Him Tren de Aragua Member for Traveling With Tattooed Companion

A Venezuelan national who was deported to El Salvador after appearing in a photo next to a tattooed man allegedly linked to the Tren de Aragua gang has been granted permission by a Texas judge to return to the United States to face criminal charges.

Pedro Luis Salazar-Cuervo, 28, crossed into the U.S. on New Year's Eve and was later accused by Texas state police of being affiliated with the Venezuelan-born gang.

The man was among the over 200 people deported in March to El Salvador's maximum-security CECOT prison as a result of Trump using the Alien Enemies Act. His attorneys have called the accusation "baseless," noting that neither the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) nor state prosecutors have provided evidence connecting him to Tren de Aragua.

According to The Texas Tribune, Salazar-Cuervo was part of a group of migrants who surrendered to DPS troopers and National Guard soldiers near the border. Despite having no criminal record, he was accused of gang affiliation and later deported to the infamous prison.

On June 17, a Texas judge ruled that Salazar-Cuervo must be returned to the state, where he is scheduled to stand trial in August on a charge of trespassing on private property. The outlet reported the trespassing charge is part of a broader strategy used under Operation Lone Star, a border security initiative launched by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 aimed at arresting migrants on state charges.

Although District Judge Maribel Flores ordered Salazar-Cuervo's return, it remains unclear whether federal authorities will comply.

"The court does order the state to make the request," Flores said. "The state will have no obligation, of course, to make certain that the federal government complies with the request."

Two days after Salazar-Cuervo's arrest, Abbott issued a press release stating that four of the nine migrants detained during the New Year's Eve operation were members of Tren de Aragua. The statement said their affiliations were confirmed through interviews, tattoos and social media posts.

However, Salazar-Cuervo's attorneys argue he has no tattoos—a claim supported by his jail booking sheet, according to The Texas Tribune report.

"Texas helped the federal government send someone to a foreign torture prison for terrorists simply because he traveled with someone with tattoos," his attorneys wrote in a court filing. "To facilitate a speedy trial for a defendant in federal custody, a state must move for an order that requests that the federal government transfer the accused back into state custody."

The Tribune also highlighted a similar case from March in Hays County, where a DPS-led operation targeted a group of Venezuelans renting a six-bedroom house in Austin. Authorities arrested 47 people, including nine minors, one as young as 3 years old.

Officials described it as a "possible gathering of suspected TdA members or TdA associates" and said narcotics were found. DPS said in a press release that more details would be provided "as they become available," but more than two months later, no additional information has been released.

"So little information is being shared, and there's this lack of transparency," Priscilla Olivarez, a senior policy attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told the outlet. "These types of stories shock the conscience, as they should, when we see individuals' due process rights so blatantly violated."