THE son of the Anglican Bishop of El Salvador, the Rt Revd David Alvarado, has been deported from the United States to El Salvador, the Anglican Communion News Service reported this week.

Josue Alvarado Guerra, who is 34, was arrested by immigration officials in the US state of Ohio in November. Bishop Alvarado said that his son had been forced to flee El Salvador because his life was in danger (News, 17 January).

The Bishop said this week that his son had been deported on 28 January.

Bishop Alvarado was quoted by the ACNS as saying that his son had been “threatened, kidnapped and persecuted by one of the largest gangs operating in the country” while working as a taxi driver in Colón, north-west of San Salvador.

Bishop Alvarado wrote in a letter to the Bishop of Ohio, the Rt Revd Mark Hollingsworth: “We thank the God of life for allowing us to have Josue back in our house and share with him the difficult experiences he lived in detention. Josue definitely can’t be safe anywhere in El Salvador, we fear for his life. . . We want to continue with the plans to get him out of the country as soon as possible.”

The family was looking into securing asylum for him in Canada, Bishop Alvarado said. “We know that there is a large list of friends who gave spiritual and pastoral support to our son. We are fully grateful for all they did and we beg you to continue supporting us to put [Josue] in a safe place.”