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2w ago

Court Filing Reveals $4.76 Million U.S. Deal With El Salvador to Jail Migrants at CECOT

The memo shows no detainee-treatment safeguards, with funding barred for legal counseling or asylum assistance.

President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., April 14, 2025. Trump on Monday hosted El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, the self-described "world's coolest dictator" who is now the US leader's key ally in a controversial push to deport illegal migrants to a notorious Salvadoran prison. p administration to facilitate.
Prisoners look out of their cell at maximum security penitentiary CECOT (Center for the Compulsory Housing of Terrorism) on April 4, 2025 in Tecoluca, San Vicente, El Salvador.

Overview

  • The five-page agreement, dated March 22, 2025, committed $4.76 million to house up to 300 alleged Tren de Aragua members at El Salvador’s high-security CECOT prison.
  • Restrictions in the filing forbid U.S. funds from use on legal counseling, asylum support, reproductive health programs, UNRWA, abortion lobbying, mass caravan activities, or programs not compliant with Trump’s federal contractor DEI order.
  • Two ICE flights departed for El Salvador on March 15 despite a judge’s order to halt or return them during a court hearing on the removals.
  • The document envisioned initial detention of up to one year at CECOT and set no conditions on treatment in a facility widely criticized for abuse.
  • Most Venezuelan detainees were repatriated in a July 18 prisoner swap with Caracas, and the Alien Enemies Act removals remain blocked as lawsuits and investigations proceed.