Migrants deported from US to Salvadoran prison remain under US control,
Salvadoran officials tell UN
[July 08, 2025]
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government of El Salvador has acknowledged to
United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains
control of the Venezuelan men who were deported from the U.S. to a
notorious Salvadoran prison, contradicting public statements by
officials in both countries.
The revelation was contained in court filings Monday by lawyers for more
than 100 migrants who are seeking to challenge their deportations to El
Salvador's mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or
CECOT.
The case is among several challenging President Donald Trump's
immigration crackdown.
“In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these
persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities,”
Salvadoran officials wrote in response to queries from the unit of the
U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The U.N. group
has been looking into the fate of the men who were sent to El Salvador
from the United States in mid-March, even after a U.S. judge had ordered
the planes that were carrying them to be turned around.
The Trump administration has argued that it is powerless to return the
men, noting that they are beyond the reach of U.S. courts and no longer
have access to due process rights or other U.S. constitutional
guarantees.
But lawyers for the migrants said the U.N. report shows otherwise.
“El Salvador has confirmed what we and everyone else understood: it is
the United States that controls what happens to the Venezuelans
languishing at CECOT. Remarkably the U.S. government didn’t provide this
information to us or the court,” American Civil Liberties Union lawyer
Lee Gelernt said in an email.
Skye Perryman, CEO and president of Democracy Forward, said the
documents show “that the administration has not been honest with the
court or the American people.” The ACLU and Democracy Forward are both
representing the migrants.
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A prisoner is moved as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours
of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March
26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. White House
and Homeland Security Department officials did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
The administration in March agreed to pay $6 million for El Salvador
to house 300 migrants. The deal sparked immediate controversy when
Trump invoked an 18th century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to
quickly remove men it has accused of being members of the Venezuelan
gang Tren de Aragua.
In a related case, the administration mistakenly sent Kilmar Abrego
Garcia to the same prison, despite a judge's order prohibiting the
Maryland man from being sent to El Salvador.
The administration initially resisted court orders to bring him back
to the U.S., saying he was no longer in American custody.
Eventually, Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S., where he now
faces criminal charges of human smuggling while legal battles
continue.
Last month, a coalition of immigrant rights groups sued to
invalidate the prison deal with El Salvador, arguing that the
arrangement to move migrant detainees outside the reach of U.S.
courts violates the Constitution.
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