A former Milwaukee Uber driver was one of 200 men imprisoned in El Salvador, NYT reports

A Nov. 8 story by the New York Times details the experiences of 40 migrants sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

Their imprisonment, alongside more than 200 other men in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, is tied to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and claims that the Venezuelan government sent violent gang members to invade the United States.

In March 2025, President Trump accused the men detained and expelled to prison by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of affiliating with Tren de Aragua, a dangerous Venezuelan gang.

The men told the New York Times they were teargassed, beaten, sexually assaulted, isolated and experienced suicidal ideation while living in the facility.

Experts from the Independent Forensic Expert Group said that the men’s treatment aligned with the United Nations’ definition of torture.

Luis Chacón, a 26-year-old man from the Venezuelan town of Táchira, told the New York Times he worked as an Uber driver in Milwaukee before his arrest by ICE officers. 

Chacón said he contemplated suicide at the facility. When word spread among prisoners that if someone died, they would be more likely to be freed, he considered taking his own life.

When Chacón attempted to end his life, other men intervened.

Three of the 40 men interviewed by the New York Times faced criminal accusations beyond immigration and traffic offenses. Chacón was one of them.

Before his imprisonment, Chacón was arrested in 2024 on a domestic violence charge and, in 2025, was accused of stealing merchandise at a Walmart. The domestic violence case was dismissed and the theft charge had yet to be disputed in court.

Many men in the facility, like Chacón, were unsure why they were accused of terrorist activity, the story detailed.

In June, a federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to grant the men due process, because they were deported and imprisoned without hearings.

The men’s arrests occurred in tandem with a monthslong standoff between President Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, including calls for Maduro’s ousting and military strikes against Venezuelan boats suspected of carrying drugs.

Tamia Fowlkes is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at tfowlkes@gannett.com.