Ricardo Prada Vasquez

Ricardo Prada Vazques, a Venezuelan national, entered the US legally with the CBP One app in November 2024. Prada was working as a delivery driver in Detroit on January 15 when he made a wrong turn which took him across the bridge to Canada. He attempted to reenter the US at the Detroit Windsor Tunnel where he was detained and taken into custody. Initially, it was reported that the Venezuelan national was being held at the Calhoun County Correctional Facility in western Michigan. Later, it was revealed that he had been transferred to an ICE detention center in Ohio, and eventually to the El Valle detention center in Texas, the same location from which the deportation flights organized by Trump’s administration began departing.

Disappeared without a trace

The last contact Prada had with family members or friends was on March 15 when he told a friend he was in Texas and was scheduled to be repatriated to Venezuela. That was the last time anyone heard from him. Prada was never listed on any publicly accessible records as a detainee to be deported.

Finally located

On Tuesday, April 22, the Department of Homeland Security finally acknowledged on a social media post that he was expelled to El Salvador on March 15 with more than 200 detainees. The administration is claiming Prada is a member of the Tren de Aragua gang. There is no evidence that he has ever been charged with a crime and it is unclear why he is being linked to the TdA gang. This is another example of due process being ignored even as the Constitution affirms the right of Ricardo Prada Vasquez to receive due process.

What can you do?

• Continue to put pressure on your representatives to demand the release of Prada 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