Venezuelan detainees in Texas spell out S-O-S amid looming deportations

From inside a remote immigration detention center in Texas, a group of Venezuelan men sent a desperate message to the outside world: S-O-S.

On April 28, 31 detainees at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, arranged themselves in a dirt yard to spell out the distress signal. A Reuters drone captured the scene from above, giving a rare glimpse into a facility that has recently drawn scrutiny over its handling of deportations and allegations of wrongful gang affiliation.

Bluebonnet, a privately-run facility operated by Management and Training Corporation under a federal contract, houses nearly 850 detainees on average, ICE data shows. Located about 200 miles west of Dallas, the center is closed to outside media. Reuters resorted to aerial photography, capturing images of detainees—some in red jumpsuits, a designation for “high-risk” individuals.

Just 10 days earlier, dozens of Venezuelan nationals detained at Bluebonnet received notices from US immigration officials labeling them as members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal group. The notices cited the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime-era law, as the basis for their imminent deportation, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with detainees’ families.

Several of the men refused to sign the deportation orders, denying any gang ties. Still, on April 18, they were taken by bus to Abilene Regional Airport in what appeared to be a move to deport them—until the Supreme Court stepped in that night and temporarily halted the removals. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not comment on the court's intervention.

The deportations remain paused, but the threat looms. If the Supreme Court lifts its block, the detainees could be sent to El Salvador’s CECOT, a controversial maximum-security prison. At least 137 Venezuelans have already been sent there under the Trump administration's renewed use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.