Venezuelan Professional Goalkeeper Deported to El Salvador

As the Trump administration moves with lightening speed on removals of alleged criminals and gang members, we are learning of troubling cases.  Here is one.

The Trump administration reportedly deported a Venezuelan professional soccer player, a youth soccer coach with no criminal record, to a Salvadoran prison, according an affidavit filed with a court and confirmed by a family member’s post on Facebook.

Family members learned that Jerce Reyes Barrios had been removed to El Salvador when they saw him in videos posted by the Trump administration, in which it celebrated the mass deportation of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

UPDATE (March 26):  Jerce Reyes Barrions reportedly was subject to arrest and deportation because of his tattoos. “The former professional soccer player’s tattoos are a testament to those passions: of a soccer ball and other symbols on his left arm, as well as the names of his two daughters. . . . In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security said Reyes’s tattoos are `consistent with those indicating Tren de Aragua (TdA) membership,’ accusing Reyes of being part of a foreign terrorist organization.“

KJ