Migrants being detained at the Bluebonnet immigrant detention center located in Anson, Texas, sent an S.O.S. out to the world this week. On Monday, the sight was caught by a drone flown over the facility by Reuters. The drone captured 31 men forming out the letters in the facility‘s dirt yard. The migrants feared being sent to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador. The prison, known as CECOT, has a reputation for being hardcore.
Migrants Accused of Being in a Gang
Just ten days earlier, dozens of Venezuelan detainees at the facility were informed by immigration officials that they were allegedly members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, and, under a wartime law, were subject to being deported.
Reuters interviewed seven families of the detained migrants, and they all said their family members were not a part of any gang and that the detainees refused to sign papers saying that they were gang members.
Supreme Court Blocks Deportations
Despite their refusals to sign the documents on Friday, April 18, they were loaded onto a bus and transported to the Abilene Regional Airport; however, according to family and the American Civil Liberties Union, the bus was turned around and the detainees were returned to the center. Late Friday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the deportations. Despite the reprieve, the men could still be facing being sent to CECOT.
Migrants Form an S.O.S.
The Texas detention center is privately run by the Management and Training Corporation, which has a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2025, the center had an average of 846 detainees per day.
After journalists from Reuters were refused access to the facility, they flew a drone over on April 28 to get some images of detainees. Some of the migrants, spotting the drone, formed an S.O.S. as a desperate attempt for help. The fact that the migrants know they may still be deported to El Salvador and placed at the CECOT has them fearful and desperate.
CECOT And Dehumanizing Treatment
Reports have shown that the infamous El Salvador prison practices dehumanizing treatment of prisoners. The lights are left on 24 hours a day. Prisoners are reportedly only allowed to be out of their cells for an hour a day.
Overcrowding at CECOT is excessive, and access to bathrooms and hygiene is limited. CECOT only houses gang members; it is surrounded by electric fences, and it has 19 guard towers. Inside the walls of the massive prison complex that cost an estimated $115 million to build, the inmates have little space, less than 6.5 square feet each. Along with tight quarters, there have been allegations of inmate deaths and torture by guards.
