Crocs
Audio By Carbonatix
On March 16, the Trump Administration deported hundreds of immigrants, largely Venezuelan, to prisons in El Salvador and Honduras – despite a federal court order blocking the deportations.
Images shared by the Associated Press of the immigrants’ arrival at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison in El Salvador show the deported detainees wearing all-white outfits with what appears to be a familiar shoe to Coloradans: Crocs.
The rubbery clogs, which originated in Colorado, seem to have been issued to 200-plus people sent to El Salvador to observers. The footwear has all the markers of Crocs, with round holes on top, air holes on the sides and soles following the famous Crocs pattern of an outer bumpy ring and rows of elevated ridges for traction.
But, according to a Crocs spokesperson, the shoes are a knockoff.
“The shoes circulating in recent images from the CECOT correctional facility are not Crocs brand shoes,” the spokesperson says. “Crocs, Inc. does not have any direct or indirect distribution relationship with CECOT.”
Crocs are known to be provided in prisons; in Virginia, an inmate sued his prison for making him recreate in Crocs rather than providing appropriate footwear, resulting in a broken leg. However, in this case, Crocs says the Colorado shoe is not involved.
CECOT is a new prison with a reputation for brutality that El Salvador President Nayib Bukele built in 2022 as part of an aggressive anti-crime strategy. CECOT does not allow visitation, recreation or education, according to NPR.
The GEO Group, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora, directed Westword’s Crocs inquiry to ICE. As did Customs and Border Patrol. According to CBP, the people transferred to El Salvador were in ICE custody before being deported.
ICE said Westword would need to contact CECOT or the Salvadoran government, as the photos showing Croc-like shoes were taken in El Salvador. El Salvador’s Office of Public Information did not reply to requests for comment.
El Salvador agreed to host the prisoners for one year, for a payment of $6 million from the United States. President Donald Trump declared the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 applied to Venezuelans in light of the recent emergence of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang that has been blamed for violent acts in the United States dating back to last year.
The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three other times in history during active wars, but Trump said he considers criminal migrants invaders, therefore making this “a time of war.”
A federal judge, James E. Boasberg of U.S. District Court, did not agree with the justification, temporarily blocking the deportations, but the planes were already in the air.
Videos show the prisoners’ heads being shaved when they arrived in El Salvador. Bukele expressed excitement about opening CECOT for United States use.
“Oopsie…Too late,” Bukele posted on X about the court order.
Though Trump insists the deportations were about TdA, there is no reported evidence showing all of the prisoners are associated with the gang, with some family members coming forward to say their relatives who were deported had no gang affiliation.
Aurora and Denver police have arrested some TdA members for crimes in the metro area, but law enforcement and elected officials have maintained that the gang’s presence is not widespread.
What is widespread in Colorado are Crocs, the creation of a company founded by two University of Colorado graduates that’s been headquartered in Colorado since the beginning of the early 2000s. Broomfield currently serves as HQ for Crocs.
Here are several social media posts showing the shoes on the deportees.
It is important to be very clear. The people you see in this photo have not had any due process whatsoever between being uprooted from their lives & families in the U.S. and finding themselves now in CECOT prison in El Salvador: https://t.co/vnjugE9dW8 pic.twitter.com/bIsORpclw5
— bechamilton (@bechamilton) March 16, 2025
A look at the notorious El Salvador prison CECOT https://t.co/X5jF9f4nAi pic.twitter.com/Fwrui9ODhC
— New York Post (@nypost) March 19, 2025
What to know about El Salvador's mega-prison after Trump sent hundreds of immigrants therehttps://t.co/H1ehpVJa9q
— TIME (@TIME) March 16, 2025
By the way, the two immigrants who escaped from the ICE facility in Aurora earlier this week, were reportedly wearing black Crocs.
