Hundreds of Venezuelans who were recently deported from the United States to El Salvador are at risk of facing long or indefinite detention in a prison system with a history of human rights abuses, according to attorneys and experts. The Trump administration claims that those deported to El Salvador had ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but families and attorneys maintain that the deportees have no criminal histories or gang affiliations. Concerns have been raised about due process and the legality of the deportations, with attorneys unable to make contact with their clients in El Salvador.
The deportees, many of whom have ongoing immigration cases in the United States, were sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador for one-year terms that are renewable. The conditions in CECOT are shrouded in secrecy, with reports of overcrowding, torture, and lack of due process. Human rights organizations have documented severe issues within the Salvadoran prison system, where abuse and indefinite detention are common.
Experts and lawyers fear that the deportees will be denied due process both in El Salvador and in their ongoing immigration cases in the United States. The lack of judicial independence in El Salvador exacerbates concerns about the fate of the deportees, many of whom have no criminal histories and were seeking asylum due to political persecution in Venezuela. The Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act from 1798 has raised questions about the legality of the deportations and the fate of the deportees.
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