Detainees at immigration facility in Texas form SOS message in front of Reuters drone

wjla.com · By 7News Staff · 2025-04-30T21:44:25.000Z

by 7News StaffWed, April 30, 2025 at 5:44 PMA drone view of detainees forming the letters SOS with their bodies in the courtyard at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility, where Venezuelans at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling are held, in Anson, Texas, on April 28, 2025. (REUTERS/Paul Ratje)TEXAS (7News) — A group of detainees at an immigration detention facility in Texas formed an SOS message this week that was captured by a Reuters drone as some fear deportation to a notorious El Salvador prison, video released by the news agency on Wednesday showed.Thirty-one men detained at Bluebonnet Detention Facility in the small town of Anson, Texas, formed the letters in the dirt field after spotting the drone on Monday. Video shows the men in red and orange jumpsuits waving to the camera, and one person making the "peace" hand sign, before forming the message.An aerial view of detainees at the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas, on April 23, 2025. (Reuters)The S-O-S message, meaning "save our souls," is an international code signifying extreme distress and used as a plea for help.The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, located roughly 200 miles west of Dallas and 24 miles north of Abilene, has been a target of the Trump administration and its use of the Alien Enemies Act to target those they claim are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The Supreme Court on April 19 temporarily blocked the deportation of any Venezuelans held at the facility after a last-minute plea from several lawyers of men who claim they were suddenly accused of being TdA members, according to the Associated Press. The families of seven such men told Reuters that they were not gang members and refused to sign any such documentation. The Trump administration has repeatedly used a rarely-used law from the 1700s to justify deporting detainees, some without trials, to prisons outside the country, like El Salvador's notorious CECOT. The prison once held deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose deportation before a trial warranted concerns from several federal judges, the Supreme Court, and democratic lawmakers despite the administration's efforts to keep him and many others overseas.