WashingtonContrary to public declarations by officials in both nations, the El Salvadorian government has admitted to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration still has authority over the Venezuelan detainees who were sent from the United States to an infamous Salvadoran jail.
Attorneys for over 100 migrants attempting to contest their deportations to El Salvador’s mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, made the disclosure in court documents on Monday.
The complaint is one of dozens contesting the immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump.
In response to inquiries from the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights section, Salvadoran officials stated that the appropriate foreign authorities alone have authority and legal obligation for these individuals. Even after a U.S. judge ordered the planes carrying the men to turn around, the U.N. committee has continued to investigate the fate of the individuals who were transferred to El Salvador from the United States in mid-March.
The Trump administration has maintained that it has no authority to bring the men back, pointing out that they are out of the jurisdiction of American courts and are no longer protected by the right to due process or other fundamental protections.
However, the U.N. report contradicts that, according to the migrants’ attorneys.
What we and everyone else knew—that the United States controls what happens to the Venezuelans who are stranded at CECOT—has been confirmed by El Salvador. Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in an email, “It’s amazing that the U.S. government didn’t give us or the court this information.”
The materials demonstrate that the administration has not been truthful with the court or the American people, according to Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. The migrants are being represented by Democracy Forward and the American Civil Liberties Union.
A spokesman for the Justice Department chose not to comment. Requests for comment were not immediately answered by representatives of the Homeland Security Department or the White House.
In March, the government decided to spend $6 million to lodge 300 migrants in El Salvador. When Trump utilized the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime provision from the 18th century, to swiftly remove persons it had accused of belonging to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the arrangement immediately became controversial.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly transferred to the same prison by the administration in a separate case, even though a judge had ordered that the Maryland man not be sent to El Salvador.
At first, the government argued that he was no longer in American custody and opposed court orders to return him to the country. Abrego Garcia was eventually brought back to the United States, where he is currently being prosecuted for people smuggling while legal proceedings are ongoing.
A collection of immigrant rights organizations filed a lawsuit last month to declare the prison agreement with El Salvador unconstitutional, claiming that the plan to relocate migrant detainees out of the jurisdiction of American courts is unconstitutional.
