Senate Standing Committee on Codes – 04/09/2025

A respected immigration attorney expressed his shock and dismay on social media over the fate of a Venezuelan immigrant who disappeared after accidentally crossing into Canada and being detained by U.S. authorities.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, wrote Tuesday, "This story from today is SHOCKING. The United States has disappeared a man. His last known whereabouts on March 15 was in the same place as others sent to El Salvador, but his name doesn't appear on the leaked list of people sent there. He is, for all intents and purposes, gone."

The story Reichlin-Melnick referred to was written by Miriam Jordan, national immigration correspondent for The New York Times.

Jordan wrote about Ricardo Prada Vásquez, who was working a delivery job in Detroit.

He was heading to the address to drop off a McDonald's order "when he erroneously turned onto the Ambassador Bridge, which leads to Canada. It is a common mistake even for those who live in the Michigan border city. But for Mr. Prada, 32, it proved fateful," she wrote.

ALSO READ: 'We know where this leads': How Trump’s crackdown puts Jewish people in peril

U.S. authorities took Prada into custody when he tried to re-enter the country, and he was ordered deported," Jordan wrote.

"That evening, the Trump administration flew three planes carrying Venezuelan migrants from the Texas facility to El Salvador, where they have been ever since, locked up in a maximum-security prison and denied contact with the outside world."

According to Jordan, Prada has not been heard from or seen since.

"He is not on the list of 238 people who were deported to El Salvador that day. He does not appear in the photos and videos released by the authorities of shackled men with shaved heads."

Jordan quoted a friend of Prada's saying, "He has simply disappeared."

"Mr. Prada’s disappearance has created concerns that more immigrants have been deported to El Salvador than previously known," Jordan wrote. "It also raises the question of whether some deportees may have been sent to other countries with no record of it. The U.S. authorities have confirmed that he was removed from the United States. But to where?"

Read The New York Times article here.

A surprise decision by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) to not seek re-election in 2026 has given Democrats in the state hope that they can snag the seat in what is expected to be a midterm referendum on Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office.

According to a report from the Washington Post, Donald Trump's decision to enact tariffs that have severely impacted American farmers will likely not be forgotten when election time comes around in a state where agricultural policy is always at the top of the ticket no matter who the nominee is.

As Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Rita Hart put it, "There are a lot of people who are seeing this as an opportunity," before adding that Trump's tariffs will be front and center in the campaign.

ALSO READ:'We’ve made a mistake': Trump’s trade war sends GOP into frenzy

According to the Post's Patrick Svitek, "In Iowa — the second biggest agricultural exporting state in the country — not all Republicans have been fully onboard with Trump’s sweeping — and ever-changing — tariffs, which, at a minimum, have created deep uncertainty for farmers who make a living selling their crops to other countries."

Sam Newton, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, claimed, “It’s definitely a race we’re keeping our eye on. We believe that there’s a real opportunity for a competitive race with a strong candidate who fits the state well.”

There hasn't been a Democrat governor in Iowa since 2010.

The report also notes the election could be a harbinger on how strong Trump's pull will extend when he is not on the ballot.

You can read more here.