Andy Javier Perozo Palencia (30) hails from Maracaibo, a city in western Venezuela that once was one of the nation’s wealthiest, thanks to its abundant oil reserves. But as Andy came of age, his nation began to collapse. Hyperinflation made their salaries worthless. Venezuela’s oil industry tanked. The city began experiencing regular blackouts.
"My husband is unable to work much due to spinal problems, so Andy Javier has been working since he was 16, because he became a father at 16 and since then Andy has done nothing but work for his children and for us," Andy’s mother, Erkia Palencia, told the Venezuelan press.
"Andy worked [in Venezuela] in several restaurants, cheese factories, and bakeries when he was a minor. We obtained his permits so we could employ him. What criminal applies for a work permit when he's a minor?"
"At 16, Andy, through hard work, helped us all; he gave us food to his sister, who was in high school, and all of us when he worked as a bagger. What underage criminal does a supermarket employ to work as a bagger?"
"Andy has five children. He went to Bogotá (Colombia) during the pandemic, after not finding stable work in his homeland. Things didn't go very well for him in Bogotá, so he returned home and started selling panela (a drink made from sugar cane), going from here to the city center to sell his panela."
Then in 2023, Andy and his childhood friends, Mervin Yamarte, Ringo Rincón and Edward José Hernández Herrera decided to go to the US for a chance at bettering their lives. They traveled through Central America and into Mexico to reach the United States. They surrendered themselves to U.S. Border Patrol agents, who detained and then released them.
The four friends lived together in Dallas, TX where they began working in whatever they could to live and send something back to Maracaibo to help their families, until an ICE raid ended their American dream.
According to a Washington Post story, ICE officers arrived at their home Thursday morning, [March 13, 2025]. By then, Mervin Yamarte’s younger brother, Jonferson Yamarte, had arrived in Texas. He witnessed the arrests, but was not detained, and described them to The Post.
He said armed immigration officers were in his living room when he woke up. They asked him to sit down, requested his name and then inquired whether he had tattoos.
Scholars and journalists who have studied Tren de Aragua say tattoos are not a reliable indicator of membership in the gang. Relatives of several Venezuelan men whom the Trump administration described as Tren de Aragua members and sent to the prison in El Salvador also say that ICE claimed their tattoos linked them to a gang.
Jonferson, 21, said he showed the men the tattoo that he and his brother share: “Fuerte como mama,” which translates to “Strong like mom.” It remains unclear why one brother was arrested but not the other.
Jonferson said Andy Perozo had missed a court date and had a final deportation order.
On Saturday, March 15, Mervin Yamarte called his mom. She said he told her that all four friends, including Andy were in detention together and had signed deportation papers.
The mothers began making arrangements for their arrival. One of the men’s children wanted to throw a welcome home party.
Then a family member of one of Andy's friends saw the published by the government of El Salvador of the prisoners from the US. She alerted the other moms and girlfriends. They wailed in despair.
Erkia watched the videos and thought she saw a man whose features were familiar to her. But she had no doubts when she saw her husband's name and her own tattooed on the forearm of one of the inmates, she says. It was Andy.
A few days later Andy Perozo’s name, along with his three old friends, Mervin Yamarte, Ringo Rincón and Edward José Hernández Herrera, were confirmed among the men sent to CECOT in El Salvador, accused of alleged links to the Tren de Aragua.
The entire community of the Los Pescadores neighborhood is in shock with the news that four young men from their community were in a maximum-security prison where human rights abuses including tortureand starvation are common. All of the families deny that these men are criminals and they have been protesting and fighting for their release.
According to the Washington Post the men’s names do not appear in federal, state or local criminal court records in the US.
Erkia’s distress has been so severe since her son was sent to CECOT that her blood pressure spiked beyond normal limits, and she's had to hide from her family to grieve. Her granddaughter, Andy's daughter, about 6 years old, hasn't stopped asking about her father: "She says her dad is coming. She says to me, 'Grandma, Daddy's coming on a plane.'"
(info from WaPo, Andy’s TikTok photos, El Universo, BBC, Noticia al Minuto, La Nacion)