We Can’t Forget the Disappeared Dads this Father’s Day

Instead of celebrating Father’s Day with their loved ones this weekend, hundreds of men trapped incommunicado inside the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador (CECOT) will be marking three months since they were first locked away in a torture prison. Their children will mark the day wondering if their fathers are still alive.

In an abhorrent abdication of constitutional due process protections, the Trump administration ripped these men from their communities without so much as a chance to plead their case, leaving their loved ones wondering if their brothers, husbands, fathers, or friends are still alive. As NILC – among others – has warned before, this is a page straight out of the authoritarian playbook.

Many of the men disappeared to this torture prison are fathers who should be celebrated this weekend. Instead, this Father’s Day will be marked by their absence.

One of those fathers is Frengel Reyes Mota.

Frengel is 24 years old and was just starting to enter a new chapter of his life with his family in the United States when he was suddenly sent to CECOT in March.

Frengel came to the United States in 2023 via the CBPOne App – a lottery-based appointment system that allowed applicants to appear at a port of entry and apply for asylum. As Frengel and his family pursued asylum, they moved to Tampa, Florida: a fresh start after the instability of living in Venezuela.

Frengel attended his required ICE check-ins. On February 4, 2025, he went to an ICE check-in and never came home again. Without any evidence, ICE agents claimed that Frengel had ties to the Tren de Aragua gang and detained him on the spot. Just over a month later, he was forced onto a plane set for El Salvador. His wife found his name on a list of the men sent to CECOT.

Over time, we have learned more about the egregious nature of Frengel’s case. Not only is there a lack of any evidence of any gang ties (the Trump administration can’t even rely on their tattoo argument here, as Frengel has none), but the paperwork the government filed in his case is riddled with errors – including the use of a completely different name and incorrectly listing him as female.

His wife describes Frengel as a loving and committed father, pet owner, and husband. Without him, their family is fractured. His son recently posted a devastating video online, begging for his father’s return after spotting Frengel in a video posted by Matt Gaetz. In the video, Frengel can be seen signaling for help.

The trauma of forced separations like Frengel’s cannot be overstated, especially among the family members left behind. Children especially face immense psychological and physical health tolls when their parents are suddenly taken from them. Medical experts find that even the threat of separation alone increases the risk of developing depression, PTSD, anxiety, cancer, stroke, heart disease, and other chronic health or developmental conditions among children.

But June 15 isn’t just Father’s Day – one that Frengel will spend isolated from his wife and son – it’s also his 25th birthday.

Frengel’s disappearance and the disappearance of countless others constitute an attack on democracy and a crisis of humanity. We must act to ensure due process, and to keep families, communities, and democracy together. The Trump administration’s targets are men like Frengel today, but tomorrow he will shift his aim elsewhere.

Please call your member of Congress today and demand that they act. Visit NILC’s Take Action page today to send a clear message: we demand that Congress stop funding deportation flights to this mega-prison, and the safe return of Frengel and all the men at CECOT be returned to their loved ones.