Luis Leonardo Finol Marquez sat within the immigration detention facility in Aurora late final month whereas his spouse gave beginning to their first son. Now, following his current deportation, he’s 1000’s of miles away from them in his residence nation of Venezuela.
“I wished to see my son’s beginning,” Finol Marquez advised The Denver Publish in Spanish by way of a translator. However his detention made that unattainable.
The Publish interviewed Finol Marquez, 28, when he was detained on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora and once more after he was forcibly returned to Venezuela, looking for to grasp the removing course of from his perspective.
His account of his processing earlier than deportation included an assertion that, below stress, he unwittingly signed a doc admitting to being a member of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, which he mentioned wasn’t true.
When requested on April 3 — the day earlier than he was deported — why Finol Marquez had been detained, ICE mentioned it was as a result of he was an “unlawful alien” however declined to share info on the place he was being deported to and when he was scheduled to be eliminated. Later, ICE didn’t straight reply to questions concerning the doc cited by Finol Marquez.
Finol Marquez’s deportation means his spouse Ariagnny, two daughters and one toddler son are left in Lakewood, questioning what’s subsequent. Ariagnny, 31, declined to make use of her final identify out of a worry that she’ll be deported, too. She has utilized for asylum within the U.S.
“I’m right here with my three youngsters,” she mentioned in Spanish. “I’ve no monetary assist.”
The precise numbers of current detentions and deportations below President Donald Trump’s stepped-up enforcement operations stay unclear attributable to an absence of federal transparency. Affirmation of the whereabouts of deportees has been piecemeal, with advocacy teams, attorneys and information organizations sporadically releasing names and areas primarily based on obtainable info.
Not too long ago, native immigration help organizations and a report by CBS Information confirmed that Nixon Azuaje-Perez, a Venezuelan migrant teen residing in Colorado, was despatched to an El Salvadoran jail. Greater than 200 migrants — lots of them Venezuelan — have been transported to a maximum-security jail within the Central American nation.
Federal officers have mentioned they’re criminals and members of Tren de Aragua, however advocates have challenged these claims and questioned authorities’ reliance on tattoos as signifiers of gang affiliation.
Ultimately, Finol Marquez was returned to Venezuela, which reached an settlement late final month to renew accepting repatriation flights from the U.S.
Arrested in driveway
Years earlier than Finol Marquez’s detainment, he and Ariagnny met as a result of they’re from the identical neighborhood in Venezuela’s capital metropolis of Caracas. They’ve been collectively for nearly a decade and wed about two years in the past.
After making the four-month journey from their residence nation to america, they arrived in September 2023 and had been a part of the wave of Venezuelan migrants who traveled to Denver after crossing the border. They spent a 12 months and a half beginning new lives in Colorado earlier than Finol Marquez was detained.
He mentioned immigrants had efficiently come to the U.S. for faculty and job alternatives, so he felt welcomed below then-President Joe Biden’s administration.
Again then, “the nation was completely different,” he mentioned.
Ariagnny utilized for asylum and submitted her work allow paperwork. Finol Marquez utilized for asylum, too, however a decide denied it.
On the morning of March 20, a number of unmarked automobiles pulled up outdoors the household’s residence, based on movies shared with The Publish. Each uniformed and plainclothes ICE brokers apprehended Finol Marquez in his driveway.
He mentioned they requested him questions in English, which he didn’t perceive, and indicated for him to elevate his hooded sweatshirt to look at his tattoos. Finol Marquez mentioned he has a tattoo devoted to his daughter.
Then, together with his automobile keys and cellphone confiscated, he was put in handcuffs and loaded right into a white Jeep, video footage reveals. Ariagnny, who was pregnant on the time, regarded on.
Finol Marquez confirmed that he had an energetic deportation order from final 12 months and mentioned it was the results of an unpaid visitors ticket. And not using a work allow, he mentioned he didn’t have the cash to settle the positive.
Finol Marquez mentioned after he was detained, he was taken to the ICE area workplace in Centennial the place officers requested him to signal paperwork in English. Finol Marquez initially refused, however he mentioned he felt pressured and finally signed it.
Later, he acquired a duplicate of the paperwork in Spanish, he mentioned. They included a confession that said he was a member of Tren de Aragua, he mentioned, including that different detained Venezuelans had additionally signed that paperwork.
“I’m just a little frightened,” he advised The Publish from the power.
The Publish has spoken with a number of immigration organizations concerning the alleged paperwork, but it surely was unable to acquire a duplicate and independently confirm the declare. ABC Information has additionally reported claims from detained Venezuelan males that they had been compelled to signal confessions about being gang members.
When requested concerning the allegation, a neighborhood ICE spokesperson, who has declined to be quoted by identify, didn’t straight reply. In an announcement, the company mentioned it takes very significantly its dedication to selling secure, safe, humane environments for these in its custody, and the allegation was not in line with ICE insurance policies, practices and requirements of care.
The company beforehand shared the identical assertion for an additional Publish story about detainees in Aurora.
At that detention facility, Finol Marquez mentioned Mexicans, Guatemalans and different Venezuelans had been among the many folks held there. He recalled one officer who spoke Spanish and helped him, however he additionally remembers arguing with one other officer over whether or not he really got here to the U.S. to work.
“In actuality, there was plenty of racist officers that handled us badly,” Finol Marquez mentioned in a follow-up interview.
An announcement despatched by the GEO Group, a non-public contractor that runs the Aurora facility, mentioned the corporate strongly rejected allegations of racism, pointing to its zero-tolerance coverage with respect to employees misconduct or discrimination.
The assertion mentioned that, as a service supplier to ICE, the GEO Group is required to observe performance-based nationwide detention requirements set by the Division of Homeland Safety, together with these governing the remedy of individuals in ICE custody.
The removing course of
Finol Marquez’s removing left him and his family members with questions all through the method.
As soon as he was moved from the Aurora facility, Ariagnny mentioned she went days with out listening to from him, and her greatest worry was “that he was taken to El Salvador.”
Finol Marquez mentioned that chance was additionally prime of thoughts for him.
Earlier than leaving Colorado, he mentioned he requested an official the place they had been taking him, and that individual responded that he’d discover out in Texas.
Finol Marquez mentioned he spent all the day touring on a aircraft — from Colorado to Washington state to Utah to Nevada to Arizona. There, he was given a cot, a pillow, a sandwich and water, he mentioned.
The subsequent morning, officers put Finol Marquez in metallic handcuffs, leg irons and a stomach chain, he mentioned. Finol Marquez mentioned one other Venezuelan who spoke English requested an officer the place they had been going and was advised to Florida, then Texas.
After one other day of aircraft journey, Finol Marquez mentioned he rode in a van for hours by way of Texas. On the remaining vacation spot, different buses full of individuals arrived.
“What’s going to occur to us?” Finol Marquez remembered pondering. “Are they going to ship us to El Salvador?”
He mentioned he requested officers and didn’t obtain responses. The detainees started boarding a aircraft: first ladies, then youngsters, then males, Finol Marquez mentioned. He estimates that greater than 300 folks had been loaded onto the plane.
“It was scary as a result of I didn’t know the place they had been going to take me,” he mentioned.
The Division of Homeland Safety didn’t reply to a request for remark about Finol Marquez’s claims of presidency stress to signal a Tren de Aragua confession and its lack of communication about what nation he was being deported to throughout the removing course of.
On the aircraft, Finol Marquez mentioned he acquired a cookie, an apple and water, however his entry to a restroom was restricted.
After hours in flight, passengers acknowledged Venezuelan terrain under and began to cheer, Finol Marquez mentioned. American officers eliminated his chains earlier than touchdown, he mentioned. He was then processed by Venezuelan officers.
Now that he’s returned to his motherland and been reunited with kin, Finol Marquez mentioned he’s feeling “good, because of God.”
He mentioned his plan was to return to Venezuela finally. However he didn’t wish to do it so quickly — or go away his household alone within the course of.
“In actuality, I didn’t assume they’d deal with me like this,” he mentioned, referring to the U.S. authorities representatives.
He mentioned he desires his spouse and youngsters to come back again to Venezuela. Ariagnny can be contemplating that possibility.
“To inform the reality, I’ve plenty of worry,” she mentioned, “and I’ve thought of going again myself.”
