Maikel Antonio Olivera Rojas, 36, is from Barquisimeto in the Lara state of Venezuela. He is the oldest of three, with two younger sisters. His middle sister, Michel Janina Olivera Rojas, who says they have always been close, describes him as “100% calm, he doesn’t mess with anyone, he doesn’t like problems, and he never had any problems with the police in Venezuela.” Maikel also “knows how to do everything, he's a utility worker. He knows how to paint, he knows welding and he is a person who graduated and is a technician in computer science.” Maikel is a father of two children, ages 13 and 10 and he has a girlfriend.
Like so many Venezuelans dealing with the economic collapse of their country, Maikel made the difficult decision to leave his family and migrate. “The salary he had here wasn’t enough for him to survive, it wasn’t enough to buy good groceries, so he wanted his daughters to have a good education, good stability, good nutrition, and well, that’s why he decided to leave,” Michel said.
Maikel, his youngest sister, her husband and three children left for the United States in March 2024. They each carried one of the children through the Darien jungle and arrived in Mexico in May. Then they waited for their CPB-One appointments. Maikel entered the US in late August or early September and met up with his cousin, Edwin. He was given court hearing for his asylum case in May.
Both men found work at a transportation company providing low-cost rides for migrants arriving in Calexico, California. They lived and ate at housing provided by the company. “Maikel didn’t go out from there, from work. He told me that he avoided going out because it was the job he had to do. He spent the whole day working and then at night he would just come home, tired and go to sleep,” Michel said.
About a month after arriving, on October 24, 2024, ICE raided the company where Maikel worked. Michel said Maikel explained to his girlfriend, when he was in detention, that ICE targeted his workplace because two employees at rival companies are seen joking about being members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua in a video posted to TikTok.
“The guy who posted the TikTok, Rafael, had problems with the other company, because they were stealing each other's passengers. On the video, they guy from the other company told Rafael, “You’re from Venezuela, you’re a thug,” and Rafael said, “we’re from Tren de Aragua,” just as a joke. Michel explained that dark humor about gangs is normal in Venezuela, but “in the US it’s different.” Even though neither Maikel nor his cousin were in the video, ICE arrested all four Venezuelan men who worked at the company.
The men were taken to a detention center in Florida and Maikel was given an orange uniform because he was “under investigation,” he told his sister. “Here they know everything, they investigate you, they even investigate your family, and we’re already in orange. We’re waiting for the trial so they can release us,” Michel remembers Maikel telling her on one of their nearly daily calls while he was in detention.
After about a month, Maikel was transferred along with his cousin Edwin and several other men to the Rio Grande detention center in Texas. There, without explanation, they were changed to red uniforms; the ones used for dangerous criminals. On March 14, 2025, Maikel called his sister to say he was going to be deported to Venezuela. “It doesn’t matter, brother, come back,” Michel remembers telling him.
Michel told their mom that Maikel was coming home and arraigned transport from the airport to their remote area. The family was relieved and excited to see Maikel. “Then on Sunday, [March 16], my mom said, “Daughter, do you know anything?” “Daughter, do you know anything?” “Nothing, mom, still nothing. He must be on the way. I don’t know how many hours it’ll be.”Then “suddenly the video comes out, the one that Bukele posted. “Oh no, my God, that looks horrible. No, but this can’t be them, these people look really bad,” Michel remembers saying to the friend who sent the video to her. She didn’t tell her parents to protect them from worry, “my dad is someone who has seizures and with shocking news, he goes downhill.”
“Praying to God that it wasn’t them, days went by, days went by. I kept that all to myself, just holding it in, until my dad on Monday, when he got home from work, saw the news and told me, ‘Michelle, look at this.’ And I told him, ‘Calm down, Dad, he’s not there.’”
Finally on March 20 the list of 238 men sent to CECOT prison was released by the media and both Maikel’s and his cousin's name was on it. Since then, the family has been fighting for Maikel's release, traveling and protesting to get the attention of the government, trying to get press coverage and legal help, anything they can think of to help. The stress is taking a toll on Michel’s health, and she has developed high blood pressure.
Michel would like to tell Americans that they have “such an advanced country, don’t ruin that. [America] should fix that situation that they themselves made and give these men their trial-- don’t make the innocent pay for the guilty.”
Phone conversation with Michel Olivera on May, 21, 2025
https://www.elsalvador.com/.../venezolanos.../1207359/2025/https://ultimasnoticias.com.ve/.../familiares-de.../...https://www.elsalvadornow.org/.../venezuelans-ask-bukele.../https://assets.aclu.org/.../2025.03.28.0067-Exhibit.18-16...https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHZmx3Yx4MA/https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHbejavpfBL/