Overview

• In filings with a U.N. working group, Salvadoran officials stated that legal jurisdiction and responsibility for the more than 200 Venezuelan men in CECOT rest exclusively with the United States.
• The disclosure directly contradicts Trump administration claims that the migrants were beyond U.S. legal reach and stripped of constitutional protections.
• U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher has pressed the Justice Department for an explanation of its reliance on diplomatic negotiations after El Salvador’s admission negated the need for such talks.
• The migrants were sent to CECOT in mid-March under a $6 million bilateral deal and an 18th-century Alien Enemies Act invocation that bypassed standard immigration procedures.
• ACLU and Democracy Forward lawyers have used the U.N. report to bolster ongoing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the deportations and spotlighting overcrowding and alleged abuses at the prison.