USA: Stop Illegal Expulsions To El Salvador
On 15 March 2025, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, 50 USC 21, claiming that the Tren de Aragua (TdA) criminal group “is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States” and warning that “Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the United States, and are not actually naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the United States are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.” The Alien Enemies Act is a power granted to the President only in times of actual or imminent war against another country. Until now, the Act has been invoked in only three eras, always during a declared war or within days of one being declared. Moreover, the last time the Act was used was to detain over 120,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps in the United States during World War II.
On 15 March, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of five Venezuelan individuals at risk of removal under the presidential proclamation on the Alien Enemies Act. The District Court in D.C. issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) for the plaintiffs and scheduled a hearing to further address extending this order to the described class. Later that day, the court preliminarily certified a class –extending the TRO to everyone detained who is designated under the proclamation– and ordered the government to turn back any flights on their way to El Salvador. The government appealed the TRO to the D.C. Circuit, which upheld the restraining order. The administration has now appealed to the Supreme Court.
On 16 March, after the above orders were issued, the government unlawfully expelled 238 individuals to the Centro de Confinamiento Contra el Terrorismo (CECOT), an infamous prison in El Salvador, under the purported authority of the Alien Enemies Act. On 30 March, an additional 17 individuals, both Salvadoran and Venezuelan, were deported to El Salvador. According to available public information, those expelled include individuals who were in the midst of ongoing court processes, were arrested while complying with their immigration obligations, were already granted protections in the United States including under the Convention Against Torture, and were labelled as gang members for their tattoos or connection to the Venezuelan state of Aragua with no other evidence. In fact, even U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have since admitted “many” had no criminal record at all and some were removed because of a perception they may commit crimes in the future. Importantly, these expulsions are not deportations, a legal process defined in U.S. law. Those that were expelled on March 16 were expelled without removal orders, seemingly to serve an indefinite prison sentence under a system where fundamental human rights are routinely ignored. Moreover, the family members of those expelled have not received any official communication that their loved ones were sent to El Salvador and have only been able to determine this through photos and videos shared online, and a list of names published by the press. The individual’s have been removed from the ICE Locator meaning that their current “official” locations are unknown.
Amnesty International has extensively documented the inhumane conditions within detentions centres in El Salvador, including the CECOT, where those removed are now being held. Reports indicate extreme overcrowding, lack of access to adequate medical care, and widespread ill-treatment amounting to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Additionally, Salvadoran organizations have reported more than 300 deaths of individuals while in state custody, some of them showing clear signs of violence. No individual should be subjected to such conditions.
The principle of non-refoulement, a cornerstone of international human rights law, unequivocally prohibits states from returning, removing, or transferring individuals to any country where they would face a real risk of serious human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, torture, or ill-treatment. By removing individuals to El Salvador under these circumstances, the United States has placed them in grave danger and failed to uphold its obligations its legal obligations. Meanwhile, El Salvador must be held accountable for facilitating policies that violate the rights of migrants and people seeking safety. Any subsequent removal of the individuals from El Salvador to Venezuela would also violate the principle of non-refoulement. The US government must immediately return those that were illegally removed to El Salvador so that they can continue their immigration proceedings in the US, halt any subsequent expulsions and comply with the decisions of the US Judiciary.