Angelo Esmith Escalona Sevilla, 18, is from the state of Carabobo, Venezuela. Maria Melendez, his aunt, describes Angelo as a quiet boy, a homebody who likes music and playing games on his phone. She also mentioned, because US authorities used tattoos in a since debunked system to connect young Venezuelans to gang membership, that Angelo has no tattoos.
Angelo’s father died when he was 12 years old. Two years later, when Angelo was 14, Angelo’s mother decided to take him and his younger sibling to Colombia for better opportunities.
In 2023, the family moved again, this time to the US. Angelo’s family traveled through the Darian jungle, central America and Mexico, and arrived at the US border. They crossed the border and surrendered to authorities to claim asylum on September 18, 2023, the same month Angelo turned 17. They were detained for a few days and then released.
The family settled in Chicago where they started their asylum process. After turning 18 in 2024, Angelo received his work permit and got a job in construction. Early in 2025, he was invited to by a friend of a friend to be in a music video with Arturo Suarez, a reggaeton artist living in North Carolina. “She [Angelo’s mother] didn't want to give him permission, but he wanted to go, and he convinced her,” Maria said.
On February 8th, ICE raided the music video session. According to news reports from Raleigh, NC, ICE had an arrest warrant for one man who had missed a court date, and they arrested the ten other men who were present, including Angelo. Angelo was first detained in Georga and then moved to a detention center in Texas.
Angelo’s mother 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,” Maria said. The family then heard nothing.
On March 17th, one of the men who the family knew to be arrested with Angelo on February 8, was identified in the photos from CECOT, the torture prison in El Salvador. CECOT is a place notorious for human rights abuses such as putting prisoners in cells with scorpions, bright lights 24/7, crowded, unsanitary conditions, stress positions and no healthcare.
At that point, Angelo’s family assumed he had been sent to El Salvador. They got confirmation of this on March 20th when Angelo’s name appeared on the list of Venezuelan men sent to CECOT.
In May, Maria said the family identified Angelo in a video published by One America Network. “He was very thin, very thin. I saw him clearly and I heard him. He was calling for freedom,” she said.
Maria has been fighting for Angelo in every way she can from Venezuela. She joined other families of the men taken to CECOT prison without due process and they have been protesting and reaching out to international human rights organizations.
“We've been to the Salvadoran embassy, but there's no one there. We've sent several letters. We’ve held vigils at the UN. We've given statements everywhere, here we're making noise because we want everyone to hear, because this is an injustice.
“This is a crime, it's [The United States’ and El Salvador’s] crime. They have kidnapped our boys. We're crazy with grief, like I'm telling you, migrating isn’t a crime, being Venezuelan isn’t a crime,” Maria said.
Phone conversation with Maria Melendez, June 17, 2025