LONGVIEW, Texas — Editor’s Note: The above video aired in June 2025.
Francisco Garcia Casique knew he faced deportation after he failed to show up to an immigration hearing in February. What the man who once called Longview home didn’t know is he would be sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
Months later, the 24-year-old Casique, who came to the U.S. illegally in 2023 to help support his family, is back in his native Venezuela.
He was one of more than 200 detainees at the El Salvadorian facility released in July as part of an exchange between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments. For months, Casique’s mother, Mirelys Casique, participated in marches in Venezuela and spoke to U.S. media outlets in hopes to be reunited with her son. Now, she said she thanks God that he is back with her.