A Venezuelan national being described as a poor Michigan delivery driver who took a wrong turn is a confirmed member of the Tren de Aragua gang, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Ricardo Jesus Prada Vásquez, 32, was deported last month after he crossed the Ambassador Bridge and attempted to reenter the United States through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
The incident occurred in January, and recent news reports have portrayed him as an innocent Detroit man who the administration of President Donald Trump claim “simply disappeared” after taking a wrong turn while delivering food.
However, Prada Vásquez failed to appear before an immigration judge, as ordered when he entered the United States on Nov. 29, 2024, at the Brownsville, Texas, Port of Entry via a Customs and Border Protection One app appointment, according to the DHS post.
“Prada was paroled into the US and served with a notice to appear before an immigration judge,” the DHS statement said.
Prada Vásquez was among a group of illegal criminal aliens flown to El Salvador after DHS and ICE officials confirmed he’s a member of TdA and violated an immigration order, according to the DHS.
The federal agency posted on the social media site X late Tuesday that Ricardo Prada Vásquez was flagged by the government “as a designated a public safety threat as a confirmed member of TdA” who was “in violation of his conditions of admission.”
FALSE. Ricardo Jesus Prada Vasquez is a Venezuelan national and confirmed member of Tren de Aragua, entered the United States on Nov. 29, 2024 at the Brownsville, Texas Port of Entry via a CBP One app appointment. Prada was paroled into the US and served with a notice to appear… pic.twitter.com/u25CVodBDD
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 22, 2025
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On Jan. 15, five days before Trump took office, Prada Vásquez was stopped at the Detroit Windsor Tunnel in Detroit, Mich., attempting to enter the U.S. from Canada and was referred to secondary inspection.
Upon further investigation, DHS officials detained him for being a confirmed member of TdA and in violation of his conditions of admission. Prada was arrested and transferred to ICE Michigan for detention. On Feb. 27, an immigration judge ordered Prada removed from the U.S. On March 15, Prada was sent to El Salvador.
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State Sen. Jim Runestad of White Lake, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, said Trump is “doing what the voters want him to do, which is to deport the illegal immigrants Joe Biden let into this country.”
“He wasn’t supposed to leave the United States, and he did,” Runestad told The Detroit News. “There are so many issues with this. … I think Trump’s doing everything in his power to do what he told people he was going to do, which is try to get as many of these people who are here illegally to leave the country.”
DHS took to social media, beginning the X post with the word “FALSE” in response to a New York Times story published Tuesday that claimed Prada could not be found on a list of deportees. The article said Prada didn’t appear on a list of 238 people who were deported to El Salvador on March 15.
Tren de Aragua, or TdA, is a gang that Trump and Border Czar Tom Homan have specifically targeted as they crackdown on immigration and try to deport millions of illegal immigrants who entered under the Biden administration. The MS-13 gang, which, along with Tren de Aragua, was designated as a terrorist organization on Feb. 20 by the State Department.
ICE officials said the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence assessments “go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media,” but wouldn’t go into detail regarding how agents determine detainees’ criminal status.
The Trump administration flew the deportees to El Salvador, home to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, a maximum-security prison that houses the country’s most notorious gang members.
Several Democratic lawmakers have visited the prison to protest the deportation and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador citizen who entered the country illegally in 2012 and was linked to the MS-13 gang in 2019, along with more recent allegations of domestic violence and human trafficking.
According to the New York Times story, Prada Vásquez worked in Detroit delivering food. The newspaper reported that Prada had picked up a McDonald’s order and erroneously turned onto the Ambassador Bridge, which “is a common mistake even for those who live in the Michigan border city.”
Prada is one of 213 immigrants who had been detained at the Ambassador Bridge port of entry this year through March 21, according to information shared with The Detroit News by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
The CBP One app, introduced under Biden, allowed migrants without proper documentation to schedule appointments at ports of entry and temporarily stay in the U.S. legally. Trump revoked the status of more than 900,000 migrants who had used the app when he assumed the Oval Office Jan. 20, The Detroit News previously reported.