Venezuelan Migrants Sue Salvadoran Government Over Deportation, Detention

A coalition of migrant rights lawyers representing families of 18 Venezuelan nationals, who were deported from the United States and jailed in El Salvador, has filed a lawsuit with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. The lawsuit, which names the Salvadoran government and President Nayib Bukele, seeks the immediate release of the migrants, most of whom had pending or approved asylum applications in the United States. The complaint argues that the migrants were deported without due process and are in a situation of enforced disappearance. The lawsuit estimates that at least 288 U.S. deportees, mostly Venezuelans, are being held in CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.

Key Takeaways:

• The lawsuit, filed with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, seeks the release of 18 Venezuelan nationals, who were deported from the United States and jailed in El Salvador.
• The migrants, mostly Venezuelans, had pending or approved asylum applications in the United States and were deported without due process.
• The lawsuit argues that the Salvadoran government is holding the migrants in a situation of enforced disappearance.
• At least 288 U.S. deportees are being held in CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, according to the lawsuit.
• The Salvadoran government has offered to take in convicted criminals deported from the United States for a fee.
• President Nayib Bukele has told U.S. officials that he wants evidence that the Venezuelan migrants are members of the Tren de Aragua gang to justify their deportations.
• An investigation found no criminal record or only minor infractions for most of the men accused of being gang members.
• The decision to deport them has relied on "superficial characteristics," including tattoos, said Isabella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights.

Statistics:

• According to the lawsuit, at least 288 U.S. deportees are being held in CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
• 18 Venezuelan nationals are being held incommunicado at CECOT, according to the lawsuit.
• 112 migrants were released by Panama in March after being held in a remote jungle camp.
• Costa Rica returned passports to people it had detained in a former pencil factory, allowing them to leave if they so wished last month.

Sources:

• "El Salvador detains Venezuelan migrants despite asylum cases". The New York Times.
• Isabel C. Roby, a senior staff attorney at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, as cited in The New York Times.
• Isabella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights, as cited in The New York Times.
• Enrique Anaya, a constitutional lawyer based near San Salvador, as cited in The New York Times.
• Reuters: "Venezuelan migrants protest in El Salvador".