In the post inauguration frenzy of the Trump Administration on January 26, 2025, ICE agents arrested at his home in Cedar Park, north of Austin, an 18 year old young man living with his parents who are legally in the U.S. and from Venezuela. ICE agents arrested Daniel claiming he was wanted in the country of Chile for being a member of a gang known as Tren de Aragua, notorious for narcotics trafficking activities.
Daniel isn’t a gang member. As described in a Texas Tribune article, “Daniel wasn’t a gunrunner or a drug trafficker; he had gotten into trouble in Chile when he was sixteen, when he and a couple of other teens were caught with drugs and a gun, but that didn’t make him part of a dangerous crime syndicate. He was a teenager who loved playing soccer with his cousins in the front yard. He had a girlfriend. He had a new bike.” After the arrest of the 2 boys and girl in Chile the charges were dismissed.
Sadly, the truth about this young man’s juvenile past haven’t mattered to an administration that believes all undocumented immigrants are criminals.
When Daniel couldn’t qualify for an asylum bond allowing him to continue living with his mother he began an immigration removal process, represented by attorney Edna Yang from the nonprofit American Gateways. So Daniel had to remain in detention. He was held inTexas detention centers until early March. He was scheduled for a removal hearing before an immigration judge on March 15th. But by early March, ICE activities intensified when President Trump invoked, during peacetime, the wartime law known as The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, in order to justify the summary deportation of hundreds of noncitizen men to El Salvador.
The Salvadoran president got $6 million of U.S. taxpayer monies in exchange for accepting 238 men, placing them in a death camp like prison known as CECOT and keeping them imprisoned for at least one year.
Austin residents who know of this tragic situation are pressing the case for Daniel Teran’s release by writing letters to Senator John Cornyn, asking him to intercede with ICE officials in Washington, D.C.
Due process of the law in this country means being given the opportunity, whether citizen or not, to defend against a charge that deprives one of their human rights to life and liberty.
Citizens who cherish their freedoms to life and liberty in this country should defend the due process rights of others, especially of the innocent and victims of gross injustice or abuse of authority.
When we defend the rights of others, we strengthen the civil rights of all citizens and residents of this country.
For more information about this tragic situation that demands an appeal for justice you may find below
- A detailed and powerful letter by Austin area residents and citizens to Senator Cornyn informing him of the horrific details surrounding the arrest of Daniel Teran and asking the Senator to intercede with ICE officials in D.C. who can orchestrate the release of Daniel on grounds of the gross mistake by the ICE.
- The article by Michael Hall in the Texas Tribune detailing Daniel’s background, the arrest and the terrifying process of his detention and ultimate disappearance.
- The CBS News 60 Minutes episode describing the transfer of 238 men, most with no criminal records of any kind, to El Salvador’s death camp like megaprison.
At a “contact your representative” postcard party, Austin residents wrote to the chief adjudicator for the USCIS section of the Department of Homeland Security, Ramona McGee, 2200 Crystal Dr., Potomac Service Center, Arlington, VA, 22202, asking her to uphold the constitutional right to due process of the law in the case of Daniel Teran, and to Senator Cornyn’s regional director, Jill Wyman, at 211 W. 6th Street, 13th Floor, Chase Bank Building, Austin, Texas, 78701.
The messages for a post card are simple – Uphold the constitutional right to due process of the law and bring Daniel Terán home.