ICE unjustly swept him up in NC, now he’s trapped in Trump’s deportation pipeline | Opinion

His lawyers call him Y.A.P.A., a shielded name based on his initials, because they fear what might happen if he’s sent back to Venezuela.

He’s a 34-year-old activist for humanitarian causes who drew the ire of the Maduro regime in Venezuela. In September of 2022, he crossed the U.S. southern border, was met by U.S. Border Control officers and asked for asylum.

While awaiting an asylum ruling, he obtained a work permit and held a job in food service at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, delivered takeout food and had other odd jobs. He reported to his scheduled hearings, all of them continued. He found a place to stay and had a girlfriend.

All was going well until February, when he was picked up in Wilmington by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers for allegedly being part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

He denies any connection to the gang and the government said in court documents that it cannot validate that he is a member. He is left with the difficult and perhaps impossible task of proving he is not.

He has been in Stewart Detention Center, an overcrowded private prison in Georgia, since February, with no immediate prospect of getting out. He has spent months fearing he might be deported without due process to CECOT, El Salvador’s terrorism confinement center, or sent off to another country or returned to Venezuela.

This week, he had a small victory in his odyssey through the slanted system of immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. A federal district court judge in Georgia said Y.A.P.A. couldn’t be sent to a foreign prison or returned to Venezuela without a chance to refute the government’s allegations against him.

Judge Clay Land said that the right to due process extends to all who face detention or removal by the federal government. “This foundational principle is part of what has made, and will continue to make, America great,” he said. “Consistent with the rule of law, it is the court’s job to make sure, without fear or favor, that we adhere to these principles.”

Rebecca Cassler, an attorney at the American Immigration Council, which has taken up Y.A.P.A.’s cause, said in a statement, “This ruling affirms that our client, like every person in the United States, has a fundamental right to due process and a fair day in court.”

The ruling blocks the Trump administration’s claim that it can deport non-citizens without due process under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. The law allows for the removal of people deemed to be enemies during times of war or invasion. The administration says Tren de Aragua is an invading force connected to the Venezuelan government, although a U.S intelligence report said that’s untrue.

Cassler said, “Thanks to this ruling, for now there is one less person who has to live in fear of being whisked away to CECOT in the middle of the night and held there indefinitely on behalf of the United States.”

Still, a Venezuelan immigrant being plucked from the streets of Wilmington and imprisoned remains an unresolved injustice.

“He was complying with everything the government asked him to do,” said his immigration attorney, Keli Reynolds. “He reported his address changes. He had a work authorization and then all of the sudden in February they started picking up Venezuelans and alleging out of nowhere they are members of Tren de Aragua. It’s quite shocking.”

Reynolds thinks ICE swept up Venezuelan immigrants under a blanket claim of membership in Tren de Aragua because Trump was unhappy with the pace of deportations. Now her client has to prove he’s not what ICE says he is.

“It’s terrifying to have to prove a negative,” she said. “It’s not like people from Tren de Aragua are going to come in and say, ‘He’s not one of us.’ ”

Kaelyn Phillips, a U.S. citizen, met Y.A.P.A. last summer and became his partner. She has visited him at the Georgia detention center, where they were separated by a clear plastic barrier and spoke by phone. When he was denied bond to get out because of his alleged gang connection, Phillips said, “It totally broke him. He went into shock and denial. He said, ‘God will get me out of here.’ ”

Phillips said Y.A.P.A. has two sisters and nephews living in Wilmington and no criminal record in Venezuela or the U.S.

The claims that he is a gang member, she said, “are not charges, they are allegations,” that the government has not provided evidence to support and he has had no opportunity to refute. She said he was lucky he was not among the group of Venezuelan immigrants sent to an El Salvador prison in March without due process and with no prospect of release.

“We are a country of immigrants,” she said. “Why are we making war on immigrants?”

This story was originally published May 25, 2025 at 4:30 AM.