Watch the chilling video of the migrants’ SOS signal captured by drone at the end of this article.
Chilling drone footage has gone viral, showing detained migrants in Texas forming a desperate “SOS” message with their bodies—pleading not to be deported to El Salvador’s infamous Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), known as one of the most brutal prisons in the world.
The message was captured above the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, where migrants fear they may soon be transferred under a revived U.S. immigration policy, last used during World War II, enabling mass deportations.
More than 250 suspected gang members have already been deported to CECOT, a massive 410-acre maximum-security complex capable of holding up to 40,000 inmates. Built under the direction of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, the prison is divided into eight modules. Conditions have been widely condemned: detainees are crammed into cells with up to 70 others, allowed only 30 minutes of exercise per day, and deprived of fresh air or outdoor access.
Each cell contains a cement basin, an open toilet, and stacked metal bunks, leaving many inmates with little space but to sit on one another. While the facility features gyms and dining halls, these amenities are reportedly reserved for the 2,000 guards—not prisoners.
The viral SOS signal was reportedly formed by 31 men, many of them Venezuelans, who claim they are being falsely labeled as members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Seven families told Reuters their loved ones have no gang affiliation.
Jeferson Escalona, a 19-year-old detainee seen in the video, told Reuters via phone: “They’re making false accusations about me. I don’t belong to any gang. I fear for my life here. I want to go to Venezuela.”
A spokesperson for Management and Training Corporation, which runs the Bluebonnet facility, claimed that all detainees receive meals approved by a certified dietitian to meet nutritional guidelines.
