El Salvador Deportations

Extracted Attributes

• Destination Prison

  Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), El Salvador

• Legal Justification

  Alien Enemies Act of 1798

• Human Rights Concerns

  Lack of due process, indefinite imprisonment without trial, incommunicado detention, enforced disappearances

• Mistaken Deportations

  Included Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (Salvadoran) and at least one man claimed by El Salvador to be Nicaraguan

• Information Disclosure

  U.S. government did not publicize names; names later leaked by CBS News

• Date of Primary Deportations

  2025-03

• Alleged Reason for Deportation

  Membership in Tren de Aragua or MS-13 gangs

• Number of Salvadorans Deported

  23 individuals

• Administration Stance on US Citizens

  Trump administration expressed support for incarcerating American citizens in El Salvador if legally permissible

• Number of Venezuelans Deported (Alien Enemies Act)

  137 individuals

• Number of Venezuelans Deported (Regular Immigration Law)

  101 individuals

Timeline

• The Alien Enemies Act is enacted, later invoked by the Trump administration. (Source: Summary)

  1798

• The United States deports 137 Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, along with 101 other Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans, for immediate and indefinite imprisonment at CECOT. (Source: Summary)

  2025-03

• A judge in the class-action lawsuit J.G.G. v. Trump issues a temporary restraining order pausing deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, but flights continue. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-03

• Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran with protected legal status, is mistakenly deported to El Salvador. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-03-15

• U.S. District Judge James Boasberg hears arguments regarding the administration's defiance of his order to halt removals. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-03-21

• James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, rules that the government cannot deport anyone under the Alien Enemies Act without notice and a hearing. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-03-24

• The administration sends 17 more Venezuelan alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to CECOT. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-03-31

• The Supreme Court rules per curiam that Judge Boasberg was without jurisdiction to issue his order, thus nullifying it. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-04-08

• The Supreme Court temporarily halts deportations of Venezuelans from a district in northern Texas via an emergency temporary restraining order. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-04-19

• Salvadoran Jordin Melgar-Salmeron is deported to Izalco prison despite a Second Circuit Court of Appeals order allowing him to remain in the US. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-05-07

• The Supreme Court grants an injunction, continuing the temporary pause on deportations from the northern Texas district. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-05-16

• The Cato Institute publishes a report analyzing the deportations, noting that dozens of legal immigrants were stripped of status and imprisoned. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-05-19

March 2025 American deportations of Venezuelans

In March 2025, the United States deported 137 Venezuelans to El Salvador, to be immediately and indefinitely imprisoned without trial and without prison sentences nor release dates. They were detained at the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a prison with human rights concerns, as part of an agreement to jail U.S. deportees there in exchange for money. They were not given due process such as fair trials, and thus have no orders or sentencing for either the deportations themselves or the imprisonment immediately on arrival. Many deportees have no criminal charges, records, nor convictions in either country. The second Trump administration alleges that the deportees are gang members, but often without any solid evidence, and consequently, innocent individuals have been deported and imprisoned without any fixed term, including instances in which the deportation itself was admitted to be a mistake. The administration is doubling down on its actions and refuses to acknowledge or rectify any issues. Although the deportations themselves were well-publicized afterward, the U.S. did not publish the Venezuelans' names, nor did it acknowledge the fate and whereabouts of individuals to the public, their families, or their legal representation. Their names were later leaked by CBS News. The legal justification for their deportation was the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives the president wartime authority to summarily arrest and deport citizens of a nation that is in a declared war with the U.S., or which perpetrates, attempts, or threatens an "invasion or predatory incursion." U.S. president Donald Trump invoked the act on the basis that the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua was invading the United States at the behest of the Venezuelan government. He ordered accused members of Tren de Aragua removed with expediency that did not leave time to defend against the accusations that they were gang members. The deportees arrived in El Salvador after the judge in a class action lawsuit, J.G.G. v. Trump, had issued a temporary restraining order pausing deportations under the act and ordered any such flights to be stopped or turned around. The flights did not stop, setting up a confrontation between the Trump administration and the courts. They were transferred to CECOT by bus immediately when they arrived at El Salvador International Airport. James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled on March 24 that the government cannot deport anyone under the Alien Enemies Act without notice and a hearing. The D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the block on the act, and the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court of the United States, asking it to vacate Boasberg's order and to immediately allow the administration to resume deportations under the Alien Enemies Act while it considered the request to vacate. On April 8, 2024, following the emergency appeal, the Supreme Court ruled per curiam that Boasberg was without jurisdiction to issue his order, thus the order was a nullity. The 137 Venezuelans are only some of the people the U.S. has jailed at CECOT. The same flights also carried 101 Venezuelans deported under regular immigration law, whose names CBS also published, as well as 23 Salvadorans accused of membership in MS-13, including Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was deported by mistake. At the end of March the administration sent 17 more Venezuelan alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to the prison. The government declined to comment on whether this was under the Alien Enemies Act in defiance of the court order, or through standard immigration processes. Trump supports incarcerating American citizens in El Salvador if the law allows, and has said he would discuss the possibility with the president of El Salvador. The 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans included at least one man who was then claimed by El Salvador to be Nicaraguan. On April 19, 2025, the Supreme Court temporarily halted deportations of Venezuelans from a district in northern Texas via an emergency temporary restraining order, and on May 16, it granted an injunction, continuing the temporary pause while court proceedings continued.

Web Search Results

• March 2025 American deportations of Venezuelans - Wikipedia

  On May 7, 2025, the administration deported Salvadoran Jordin Melgar-Salmeron to El Salvador's notorious Izalco prison after a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order allowing him to remain in the US during the pendency of his immigration case. Melgar-Salmeron had asked for a stay of his deportation order so he could appeal an immigration judge's denial of his plea for relief under the Convention against Torture. Again, the administration blamed "a confluence of [...] Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran with protected legal status in the United States, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador on March 15, 2025, an action the Trump administration admitted was an "administrative error"( while also accusing him of being a member and leader of the MS-13 gang, a claim which Abrego Garcia disputes.( Government attorney Erez Reuveni was fired after refusing to sign an appeal brief in Abrego Garcia's case that included assertions and arguments he believed to be [...] The deportees arrived in El Salvador after the judge in a class action lawsuit, _J.G.G. v. Trump_, had issued a temporary restraining order pausing deportations under the act and ordered any such flights to be stopped or turned around.( The flights did not stop, setting up a confrontation between the Trump administration and the courts. They were transferred to CECOT by bus immediately when they arrived at El Salvador International Airport.

• UN experts alarmed at illegal deportations from the United States to ...

  The experts have formally communicated their concerns to the Governments of the United States and El Salvador, along with a non-exhaustive list of more than 100 Venezuelan nationals affected by these deportations, many of whose fate and whereabouts are unknown. Special Procedures mandate holders previously raised concerns about due process and detention in El Salvador in 2022, 2023 and 2024. [...] They noted that the deportations and related incommunicado detentions appeared to involve enforced disappearances, contrary to international law. Many detainees were unaware of their destination, their families were not informed of their detention or removal, and the US and Salvadoran authorities have not published the names or legal status of the detainees. Those imprisoned in El Salvador have been denied the right to communicate with and be visited by their family members. [...] GENEVA– UN human rights experts today expressed deep concern at the apparently unlawful deportations of over 250 Venezuelan and Salvadoran men – allegedly involved with gangs – from the United States to El Salvador.

• Trump's Forced Deportations to El Salvador Prisons, Detentions ...

  So, those are the legal rationale that we’ve been given, and the result has been that about 150 Venezuelans have been taken from the United States and flown to a prison in El Salvador, where conditions appear to be extremely troubling, and this obviously is not the sort of normal process by which people are removed from the United States. [...] On Friday, March 21st, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg heard arguments from the DOJ about whether or not the Trump administration flouted a ruling regarding recent deportation flights of people alleged to be Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador. Judge Boasberg had blocked the deportation after rejecting the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act as a justification. But his orders were apparently ignored by the administration. The hearing, meant to get to the bottom of [...] So those things look new and troubling. And finally, the administration’s willingness to act in apparent defiance of court order, as you just described, with the regard to the order of Judge Boasberg to halt the removals of people who were ultimately sent to El Salvador anyway, that too seems like it’s a new legal line that this administration has been willing to cross.

• At least 50 migrants sent to El Salvador prison entered US legally ...

  The report, published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found. [...] The deportations have since drawn widespread scrutiny. To date, the Trump administration has not released complete records for the more than 200 Venezuelans transferred to El Salvador. Cato’s review includes information for 174 men whose cases have some degree of public documentation. The Trump administration has accused many of the deported Venezuelan men of gang involvement, but in many cases, those claims appear to hinge largely on their tattoos. Sign up to Headlines US [...] “The proportion isn’t what matters the most: the astounding absolute numbers are,” reads the report. “Dozens of legal immigrants were stripped of their status and imprisoned in El Salvador.” Cato’s analysis goes against the Trump administration’s justification for sending the men to El Salvador, saying that only undocumented people were deported.

• El Salvador | migrationpolicy.org

  Image 6: Migrants being deported from the United States to Mexico. Feature October 2, 2024 ##### Large-Scale Deportations May Have Unintended Consequences [...] Do large-scale deportations lead to safer communities, better jobs, and less irregular migration? Research shows the answer is less clear than leading voices may suggest. This article provides an overview of research about the impacts of removals on destination and origin countries alike, focusing in particular on deportations from the United States to Latin America. Image 7: President Joe Biden in Mexico City. Policy Beat March 27, 2024