Detainees at the Bluebonnet immigrant detention center in the small city of Anson, Texas, sent the outside world a message this week: SOS.
With a Reuters drone flying nearby, 31 men formed the letters in the dirt yard of the facility on Monday.
Ten days earlier, dozens of Venezuelan detainees at the center were given notices by immigration officials that alleged they were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and subject to deportation under a wartime law, according to documents shown to Reuters, recorded video calls and court proceedings.
The families of seven detainees interviewed by Reuters said they were not gang members and that they refused to sign the document.