Venezuelan migrant deported from U.S. to El Salvador has no criminal record, documents show

The families of some of the men deported by the Trump administration to an El Salvador prison Saturday say not all of them are gang members. CBS News has learned that a barber from Venezuela was among those on the list for the deportation flights even though documents show he has no criminal record.

Franco José Caraballo Tiapa, 26, is from Venezuela and entered the U.S. in 2023, requesting asylum from persecution back home.

In February, at a routine check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, he was unexpectedly detained, and on Saturday, his wife, Johanny Sánchez, says she lost contact with him. CBS News has obtained an internal government list of the names of the Venezuelan men the Trump administration deported to El Salvador, and Caraballo’s name is on the list.

A document from the Department of Homeland Security shows Caraballo is accused of being a member of the criminal gang Tren de Aragua but also specifies that he has no criminal history in the U.S. Venezuelan officials said he has no record there either.

“He was not given due process,” attorney Martin Rosenow said. “He was not able to defend this allegation.”

The DHS document lists Caraballo’s tattoos but doesn’t explicitly say they’re connected to gang activity.

The Trump administration alleges that the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison over the weekend all had gang affiliations. In a sworn declaration Monday night, an ICE official said the agency “carefully vetted each” migrant deported to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act “to ensure they were in fact members of TdA (Tren de Aragua).” The official says “many” do not have criminal records, but some do.

Sánchez has been scouring images of the recent deportees trying to identify her husband.

Asked what worries her about him being in this prison, Sánchez said that he’s innocent.

CBS News was inside CECOT last month, a place notorious for being an information dead zone. There’s no cell signal, no visitors and the inmates are locked up for life despite many not being convicted yet.

“I’m concerned that we have no access,” Rosenow said. “Who has custody over our client? Who has jurisdiction? El Salvador? ICE? The U.S. government? We have no idea.”

Sánchez’s only hope is that both El Salvador and the U.S. show mercy in the name of justice.

“Just because of being Venezuelans, they can’t judge us all for being criminals,” Sánchez said in Spanish.

DHS told CBS News it is confident in its intel and is following the law but didn’t respond when asked about Caraballo’s case.

Caraballo’s attorney fears that U.S. courts have lost jurisdiction. Salvadoran officials said they won’t share any more information about the deportees.

contributed to this report.

Lilia Luciano

Lilia Luciano is an award-winning journalist and CBS News 24/7 anchor and correspondent based in New York City. Luciano is the recipient of multiple journalism awards, including a Walter Cronkite Award, a regional Edward R. Murrow Award and five regional Emmys.