The truth about Juan Carlos

Entrepreneur. Brother. Son. Husband. Hard worker who loves soccer and plays it well.

Those are all words family members would use to describe 29-year-old Juan Carlos Membreño Portillo. 

But when ICE agents picked up Juan Carlos in Glenwood Springs this week, they described him as a criminal, and a gang member. 

It’s not true, the family says. Now Juan Carlos is fighting his detention, hoping to not get sent back to El Salvador, where he fled threats from gang members, organized crime and a corrupt government.

Friends, co-workers, and family members said Juan Carlos left his home in El Salvador unwillingly, but did so only to be able to continue to work hard to provide for his family. He’s a good friend and a humble person, others said.

Juan Carlos Membreño Portillo. 

In his nearly seven years in Colorado, his only encounter with local police stems from a traffic infraction, which led to a citation for driving without a license. That case was closed without any incident.

But driving was necessary to get to work. That’s what Juan Carlos was doing on Monday morning when he was pulled over just about five minutes from his home. He thought it was the police and he stopped. Instead, it was ICE looking for people without legal status. They detained him. 

Voces Unidas strongly condemns the harmful narrative that ICE published this week about Juan Carlos being a gang member, arrested in Grand Junction. ICE has been caught in lies before. 

In 2025, ICE mistakenly deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego García to a notorious prison in El Salvador after claiming he was tied to MS-13. There are dozens of innocent Latino men who are wrongly accused of being gang members.

In this case, Juan Carlos wasn’t arrested in Grand Junction. He was in Glenwood Springs, on his way to work in the Aspen-area. Anyone who ever met Juan Carlos knows that he’s a cherished community member, and not a gang member. Getting the facts right matters. When federal authorities spread false narratives, it deepens the harm already inflicted on families being torn apart.

Juan Carlos has ideas and ambition. He wanted one day to run his own roofing business. He enjoys helping others, including his family still in El Salvador. 

Juan Carlos playing soccer

But family fears that if he’s deported, he’ll end up sentenced to prison for something that isn’t true. 

In El Salvador, it’s common for the current government to arrest people without evidence, simply claiming they are gang members, to meet quotas.

News reports and human rights groups have documented evidence suggesting the federal government in El Salvador has been quick to imprison low level criminals and innocent people, while gang leaders remain free. 

Juan Carlos and his family fled, first to Guatemala, and later deciding to travel to Colorado. They had been receiving threats after Juan Carlos was promoted at his cab driving job. He left the job, but the threats continued, and escalated. Organized crime leaders suggested they could make him disappear. 

It was only after fleeing that the family learned El Salvador had issued a complaint against Juan Carlos, accusing him of being a gang member himself, instead of taking threats against him seriously. His family hoped the lies wouldn’t mean much here. But now, the U.S. is repeating those lies. The family says there’s no reason for it.

Juan Carlos’ wife said she and her husband supported the current President of El Salvador who campaigned on promises to get a handle on the country’s crime. But they didn’t expect that his administration would be arresting people who aren’t criminals and without having to gather evidence. 

“It’s unfair,” the wife said. “There’s lots of us who supported him, and all his promises. It’s not fair that he wants to imprison people who’ve committed no crime.”

Juan Carlos has no tattoos. No record of criminal charges or convictions. 

“Imagine that, since 2019 until now, they have no evidence,” she said. “They’ve investigated him in El Salvador all of these years and they have no proof and they’re still accusing him. It’s unjust.”

His family just wants justice for Juan Carlos. They want people to know that he was a good, family man who doesn’t deserve to be held behind bars in either country. 

“We just want a solution for this problem,” the family said.

This story is part of a Voces Unidas series documenting immigration enforcement and its impact on rural Latino families on Colorado’s Western Slope. The individuals featured are clients we support through our legal defense fund and case management services.