Why Trump is sending Venezuelans to El Salvador

By Sergio Martínez-Beltrán,

Gene Demby, Christina Cala, Courtney Stein, Dalia Mortada, Luis Trelles, Xavier Lopez, Jess Kung, B.A. Parker, Veralyn Williams

Published April 9, 2025 at 9:32 AM EDT

Juan plays a video of his son Carlos riding a bike, which Carlos purchased the day before being taken into custody, at his home in Cedar Park, Texas, on Jan. 29, 2025.

One of President Trump's main campaign promises was carrying out mass deportations. Now, the administration has removed legal protections for people from certain countries, like Venezuela, invoked a 18th century wartime law, and arrested immigrants regardless of their legal status or criminal record. We look at how the Trump administration is testing the U.S. legal system to make good on its promise, starting with the story of one family trying to find their 18-year-old son after immigration agents showed up at their doorstep.

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Sergio Martínez-Beltrán

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán (SARE-he-oh mar-TEE-nez bel-TRAHN) is an immigration correspondent based in Texas.

Gene Demby

Gene Demby is the co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team.

See stories by Gene Demby

Christina Cala

Christina Cala is a producer for Code Switch. Before that, she was at the TED Radio Hour where she piloted two new episode formats — the curator chat and the long interview. She's also reported on a movement to preserve African American cultural sites in Birmingham and followed youth climate activists in New York City.

See stories by Christina Cala

Courtney Stein

Courtney Stein comes to NPR from the New York Times, where she helped to create the weekly podcast First Person. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at WNYC's Peabody Award-winning Radio Rookies, teaching young people to report radio documentaries about issues important to them. While at WNYC, Courtney also helped to pilot the podcast Nancy and was on the team that created the dupont-Columbia award-winning podcast Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which began as a radio workshop she started in a juvenile detention center in Queens.

Dalia Mortada

See stories by Dalia Mortada

Luis Trelles

Luis Trelles is a senior editor on NPR's Enterprise Storytelling Unit, where he helps shape international stories that hit close to home for the Rough Translation podcast.

Xavier Lopez

Xavier Lopez is a producer for Code Switch. He came to NPR from CNN Audio, where he helped produce shows such as Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the inaugural season of Tug of War. Prior to that, Lopez worked at NPR member station WHYY in Philadelphia, where he worked on shows such as The Pulse, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane and the daily news podcast, The Why.

Jess Kung

Jess Kung (they/them) is a production assistant on Code Switch. Previously, they interned with Code Switch and the podcast The Document from KCRW in Santa Monica. They are a graduate of Long Beach State University.

B.A. Parker

Veralyn Williams

Veralyn Williams (she/her) is a Peabody and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist who has been asking hard questions about our world since she picked up her first microphone in 2004. Now she brings her skills (and ears) to her role as executive producer of programming at NPR.