Overview

• More than 250 Venezuelan migrants held at El Salvador’s CECOT prison were repatriated to Venezuela in exchange for the release of 10 Americans detained by Nicolás Maduro’s government.
• The migrants were deported in March after President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, bypassing judicial review and prompting fierce legal and human rights challenges.
• House Democrats have accused the administration of misleading federal courts and Congress about the secret $6 million deal that funded the CECOT detentions.
• Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented torture, deaths and lack of due process at CECOT, triggering ongoing UN and domestic legal scrutiny.
• U.S., Salvadoran and Venezuelan officials brokered the three-way deal, following earlier smaller releases of detainees mediated by envoys such as Richard Grenell.