A Venezuelan asylum seeker living in Lewisville was deported to a mega prison in El Salvador after immigration officials allegedly mistook his autism awareness tattoo for a gang symbol. NBC 5’s Keenan Willard reports on the family’s efforts to bring him home.
NBC 5 has learned an asylum seeker in Lewisville was one of hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants sent to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador last month.
ICE has confirmed the deportation of Neri Jose Alvarado Borges. The man’s friends and family say Borges was told by an immigration official that his autism awareness tattoo was proof he belonged to the Tren de Aragua gang.
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WATCH HEREFor the past nine months, the kitchen of the Latin Market in Lewisville was where you’d find Neri Jose Alvarado Borges.
The Venezuelan migrant found work at the bakery after crossing the border in west Texas.
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SIGN UP “Everybody working here knows Neri is a good person, is a good brother, is a good friend,” said Juan Enrique Hernandez, the owner of Latin Market Venezuelan Treats.
In February, Borges was arrested by ICE agents at his apartment complex. Friends told NBC 5 they visited Borges the next day at the Bluebonnet Jail near Abilene, where they learned he had been charged with crossing into the United States illegally.
“And he said, but I have my asylum, I have the asylum here with me,” said Hernandez. “And the people said no, you’re going to jail because you have a tattoo.”
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Loved ones said Borges told them immigration authorities said his tattoo was evidence of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
The tattoo is a rainbow-colored ribbon made up of puzzle pieces, the symbol for autism awareness, along with the name of Borges’s younger brother, who has autism.
Speaking to NBC 5 in Spanish from Venezuela, Borges’s sister said their family stopped hearing from Borges after March 14.
Days later, they saw his name on a list published by CBS News of 238 Venezuelans deported from the United States to the CECOT mega prison in El Salvador.
NBC News reports the Trump Administration said the men were sent to the notorious prison because of their ties to gangs.
“It’s a crazy decision,” said Hernandez. I don’t know, nobody sees, he’s no criminal, he’s not from the Tren de Aragua.”
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office told NBC 5 they had no records of Borges being charged with any crime locally.
NBC 5 asked ICE why Borges was deported to El Salvador and what evidence was used in the decision.
“This subject was arrested on Feb. 24, 2025, and processed under Title 8 authority,” an ICE spokesperson responded in a statement. “On March 5, 2025, an Immigration judge issued him a final order of removal.”
An attorney told NBC 5 that Title 8 lays out the guidelines for the government to quickly deport an asylum seeker. Still, they had concerns about the process behind the decision.
“The government is very quiet and hasn’t properly explained why certain people are getting removed if there’s no arrest, no criminal background, nothing found,” said attorney Jaime Barron.
For now, Borges’s family said they were leaning on faith that he would one day be released – and his former boss at the bakery said he was planning to travel to El Salvador himself to do whatever he could.
“I try to help him because I know he’s no criminal,” said Hernandez. “And I need, I need to help, he’s my friend.”
Experts say there is no clear legal avenue to get Borges out of the prison in El Salvador. During a visit to the Oval Office on Monday, the president of El Salvador said he would not release a Maryland man whose return from prison to the US was ordered by a federal judge.
