Everything was going well for Angelo Escalona Sevilla, age 18, in the US. He entered legally, had a social security work permit and a pending asylum application with a court date coming up on March 23, according to his mother, Sharol Arteaga.
Then on February 8th, Angelo was making a music video with some friends, including the singer, Arturo Suárez-Trejo, at a home in North Carolina when ICE showed up and arrested Angelo along with about 7 other men. From there, they were taken to a detention center in the US.
Sharol got a call from Angelo on March 15th. He sounded desperate. He said he was being deported to Venezuela and that he had been accused of being a member of Tren de Aragua. “he has no criminal record and no tattoos on his body, nor is he associated with any gangs,” Sharol wrote in a Facebook post. The family then heard nothing.On March 17th, one of the men who Sharol knew to be one of Angelo’s friends arrested with him on February 8, was identified in the photos from CECOT, according to a family member.
CECOT is the torture prison in El Salvador, a placing notorious for human rights abuses such as place prisoners in cells with scorpions, bright lights 24/7, crowded, unsanitary conditions and no healthcare.
At that point, Sharol assumed her son had been sent to El Salvador. She got confirmation of this on March 20th when Angelo’s name appeared on the list of Venezuelan men sent to CECOT.
The family is “filled with profound sadness,” according to a family member, and are demanding justice for Angelo.(info from posts on Angelo's mother's Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/angelismaribel.arteagasevilla)
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