Arturo Suarez-Trejo
SuarezVzla is the stage name of Arturo Suarez-Trejo, a musician from Venezuela who settled in Chile in 2018. There he made music and friends before choosing to enter the US to improve his musical technique and because it was becoming too difficult to make ends meet in Chile, whose economy had been deeply impacted by the Covid pandemic. He decided to make the journey through the jungles of the Darien Gap between Columbia and Panama in order to make his way to the US where his brother was living in North Carolina. His wife, who was pregnant at the time, decided the journey was too treacherous.
Arrival in the US
A native of Venezuela, Artura Suarez-Trejo crossed into the US at the border at San Ysidro, CA on September 2, 2024. Artura entered the US after making an immigration appointment through the CBP One program designed by the Biden Administration to facilitate asylum processing at US Ports of Entry. The program allowed legal entry into the country, and Artura received protection and a hearing which was scheduled for April, 2025. Once in the country, he traveled to North Carolina where he found work as a handyman, mowing lawns, and cleaning pools.
Arrest and Detainment
On February 8, Suarez was recording a video clip at his home in Raleigh, NC when ICE agents arrived and arrested the entire group of people. It was believed Suarez would be deported to Caracas, Venezuela but instead he was included on the transport with hundreds of other men and deported to a prison in El Salvador. His family has not had any response from the Salvadoran government, and are unaware of the charges he faces. At this point, Suarez has never had a criminal record in any of the countries where he has lived.
Claims of gang membership
Suarez has a tattoo on his neck of a hummingbird. His wife said it is meant to symbolize harmony and good energy. A tattoo on his hand of a palm tree is an homage to his late mother’s use of a Venezuelan expression about God being greater than a coconut tree. The administration claims tattoos such as these are proof of gang affiliation in Tren de Aragua. There has been no evidence of criminality presented by the administration as they continue to claim the men sent to El Salvador are the worst of the worst terrorists and criminals.
What Can You Do?
Continue to put pressure on your representatives to demand the release of Suarez and other deportees who received no due process afforded to them by the US Constitution before deportation to El Salvador: Click here to find your State Representative; Click here to find your Senator.
Check back here for updates as available
