Additional Coverage:
El Salvador Points Finger at US Over Detained Migrants
The Salvadoran government has told a United Nations working group that the U.S. is responsible for over 200 migrants held in the country’s high-security CECOT prison. The migrants were allegedly transferred to the facility due to suspected gang affiliations.
This declaration appears to contradict the Trump administration’s stance that it cannot repatriate the individuals because they are under El Salvador’s jurisdiction. In a report submitted to the UN, El Salvador asserted that the “jurisdiction and legal responsibility” for the migrants rests solely with the foreign authorities due to international agreements and principles of sovereignty.
The UN Human Rights Working Group is investigating the alleged “disappearances” of four Venezuelan men reportedly sent to El Salvador in March. The Salvadoran government stated it had not arrested, detained, or transferred these individuals, but rather facilitated the use of its prison infrastructure as part of a bilateral cooperation mechanism with another nation, heavily implied to be the United States.
The Trump administration reportedly invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to deport two planeloads of alleged gang members to El Salvador, arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua represents a threat to the U.S. This transfer was reportedly part of a $6 million agreement between the Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to house migrant detainees.
The ACLU, representing the initial legal challenge against these deportations, claims the U.S. government withheld this information despite requests for documentation regarding the arrangement with El Salvador. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt stated, “The government of El Salvador has confirmed what everyone already knew: the United States controls the fate of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT without due process.”
He further criticized the U.S. government for not providing this information to the ACLU or the court. The Department of Homeland Security has been contacted for comment.