Overview
- The report released Wednesday details physical, sexual and psychological abuse of Venezuelans sent to the high‑security CECOT facility in March and April 2025.
- Researchers interviewed 40 of the 252 deportees and about 150 others, documenting beatings with batons, forced kneeling, punishment in an area called “la isla,” and three reports of sexual violence.
- DHS defended the transfers as removing nearly 300 “terrorists” from Tren de Aragua and MS‑13, while the NGOs found roughly half of those sent to CECOT had no criminal convictions and only about 3% had U.S. convictions for violent or potentially violent crimes.
- HRW and Cristosal say their requests for official information received no response and argue that withholding detainees’ whereabouts could constitute forced disappearance under international law.
- The group was repatriated to Venezuela in July as part of a U.S.–Venezuela prisoner exchange, and the report cites at least $4.7 million in U.S. funding to El Salvador to cover detention costs.