Venezuelan man in Detroit deported to El Salvador after taking wrong turn at Ambassador Bridge, reports say

A 32-year-old Venezuelan man reportedly took a wrong turn onto the Ambassador Bridge, crossing into Canada, while delivering food back in January, and has since been detained and deported to El Salvador. 

According to the New York Times, which first reported on the incident, Ricardo Prada Vásquez was detained on Jan. 15 while attempting to reenter the U.S. at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and was taken into custody by U.S. authorities. 

“We’re concerned that, again, a wrong turn at the border really shouldn’t mean that our neighbors are disappearing,” said Christine Sauve, policy engagement and communications manager at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed on social media that Vasquez was sent to El Salvador on March 15 and denied the Times’ report that he did not appear on the list of people sent to a prison there. The department claims he was a member of a criminal organization called Tren de Aragua who entered the United States at the Brownsville, Texas, Port of Entry on Nov. 29, 2024.

Immigration rights experts like Sauve say they are concerned about this case and others where people are being deported without due process.

“We’ve seen long-term detentions where they shouldn’t be happening, and there’s no oversight or body to look into these matters and investigate them,” she said. “All persons in the United States, regardless of their immigration status, no matter who they are or where they’re from, have rights to due process.”

The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, the ACLU, and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Thursday on the detentions and disappearance of immigrants in custody at the U.S.-Canada border.

Last month, an undocumented mother from Guatemala was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers after she too accidentally turned onto the Ambassador Bridge.

The woman’s attorney said she doesn’t have legal status and was immediately detained by Customs and Border Protection when she reached the security checkpoint, along with her two daughters.