Human Rights Group: El Salvador Detaining US Deportees Without Legal Process

A Human Rights Watch report reveals that El Salvador has been secretly detaining some of its citizens deported from the US without court hearings or family contact. The organization documented 11 cases among over 9,000 Salvadorans sent back since January under Trump administration policies.

A new Human Rights Watch investigation released Monday alleges that El Salvador is secretly holding some of its own citizens who were deported from the United States, keeping them in detention without court appearances or disclosure of their locations.

The human rights organization based in New York documented cases involving 11 Salvadoran nationals who were among more than 9,000 people sent back to their home country since early January 2025 during President Donald Trump’s administration.

“The United States should stop casting people into the black hole of El Salvador’s prison system,” stated Juanita Goebertus, who serves as HRW’s Americas Director.

The deportations have been carried out under Trump’s use of the Alien Enemy Act from 1798, an rarely-utilized wartime statute that allows removal of immigrants deemed security threats without standard legal procedures.

Human Rights Watch noted that neither American nor Salvadoran authorities have provided proof that the detained individuals have gang connections, despite US allegations that some are linked to the MS-13 organization.

Reuters reached out to El Salvador’s government for response to the HRW findings but did not receive immediate comment.

Legal representatives and family members have disputed any gang associations for the detained men and report being kept in the dark about where their relatives are being held.

The human rights organization conducted interviews with 20 family members and attorneys representing the 11 deported Salvadorans between mid-March and mid-October 2025. All were taken into custody immediately upon arrival, and none have appeared before judicial authorities or been permitted family communication.

The report indicates that several of the 11 affected individuals were transported to El Salvador in March 2025 alongside 252 Venezuelan nationals and placed in CECOT, a maximum-security detention facility.

Human Rights Watch found that among the more than 9,000 people sent from the US to El Salvador since January 2025, only 10.5% had been found guilty of violent or potentially violent offenses in American courts.

The practice of deporting Venezuelans to El Salvador has generated significant opposition from human rights organizations and triggered court challenges.

Since March 2022, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has maintained a state of emergency that continues today, leading to widespread arrests and the elimination of standard legal protections.