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Deportation as a business model
Under Trump, the hunt for migrants has reopened — resulting in a mass deportation of innocent Venezuelans to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador. MARC VANDEPITTE tells the story of 24-year-old barber Francisco Casique whose tattoos and country of origin were enough to make him disappear behind bars without trial

SINCE Donald Trump returned to the White House, he has reopened the hunt for migrants.

Based on a law from 1798, hundreds of Venezuelans were recently deported to El Salvador, where they are imprisoned in the notorious mega-prison CECOT.

Among them is Francisco Javier Garcia Casique, a 24-year-old barber from Maracay, Venezuela. No criminal record, no charges, no trial. Just a few tattoos — and the bad luck of being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong passport.

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