The Department of Homeland Security is pushing back against another ‘sob story’ from the media regarding a confirmed Tren de Aragua gang member who was deported to El Salvador.
Newsweek published an article on Friday, May 16, titled “Man With Daughter’s Name Tattooed Deported to El Salvador.”
The report portrays Yolfran Alejandro Escobar Falcón, 25, as an innocent man living in the United States with his partner and their daughter. His family maintains he has no criminal record in Venezuela or the United States.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek: “Another SOB STORY from the media.”
The Department of Homeland Security posted on X that Falcón is “actually a confirmed TdA gang member, an illegal alien from Venezuela, and was arrested for assault of a child less than 17 years old.”
Another SOB STORY from the media. Falcon is a confirmed TdA gang member, an illegal alien from Venezuela, and was arrested for assault of a child less than 17 years old.
The determination that he is member of Tren de Aragua has absolutely nothing to do with his tattoos. Tren de… pic.twitter.com/6K1IfwQG2Z
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 19, 2025
The post continues: “The determination that he is member of Tren de Aragua has absolutely nothing to do with his tattoos. Tren de Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth. They rape, maim, and murder for sport.”
Newsweek reports Falcón was initially detained after turning himself in at the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2023. He had filed for asylum but was detained shortly thereafter. A judge informed him he had been flagged as a suspected member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), according to Newsweek.
His mother, María, told Newsweek of the “heartbreaking” moment she recognized her son was among those deported to El Salvador’s notorious Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT).
His family believes he was targeted because of his tattoos. One tattoo features his daughter’s name and another signifies the date he and his partner met, represented by a ship’s wheel, according to Newsweek.
Falcón was initially taken into custody as he left his job at a laundromat and later transferred to a detention center in Pennsylvania. His partner remains in the United States with their young daughter, who was born in Colombia.
Newsweek reports the couple had lived in Colombia for six years before moving to the U.S. The outlet did not specify the legal status of his partner or child.
“Falcón was in a group of Venezuelans removed to El Salvador under Title 50 (Aliens Enemy Act) and was therefore destined for CECOT,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told Newsweek.
The Department of Homeland Security, President Donald Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem have defended Falcón’s deportation, saying they will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens.
“We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane,” the X post states.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers, leftist judges and activist groups are doing everything in their power to derail the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration and deportation agenda.
And they have help from the mainstream media’s biased reporting and sympathetic headlines, now casting Falcón as another Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Salvadoran national continues to be described as a “mistakenly deported Maryland man,” according to a recent headline by The New York Times.
Abrego Garcia made national headlines in April after Democratic lawmakers came to his rescue and demanded his return to the U.S. He is an illegal alien with ties to the MS-13 gang and had several run-ins with police between 2019 and 2022, including allegations of domestic violence and human or labor trafficking, according to a news release by DHS and police reports.
In March, the Trump administration deported over 200 immigrants to the Central American country in two separate flights after securing a deal with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to imprison criminal illegal aliens and gang members.
Both Abrego Garcia and Falcón were among those taken to the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) mega-prison, where hundreds of members of the MS-13, TdA and 18 Street gangs are being held, in Tecoluca, El Salvador.
Falcón has a court hearing scheduled for June 2, which will determine his legal options and next steps in challenging his deportation, Newsweek reports.
