Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador despite order barring removal to third countries
Attorneys representing at least one of 17 alleged Venezuelan gang members who were deported Sunday to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison say the men were sent there two days after a federal judge issued an order prohibiting such deportations.
A federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration policy allowing the deportation of migrants to countries other than their own without giving them a chance to argue their removal in immigration court -- although it's unclear whether those deported on Sunday would have been protected by the order.
In his ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy blocked the removal of any individual subject to a final order of removal from the United States to a third country other than the country designated for removal in immigration proceedings unless they are given written notice and the opportunity to "submit an application for protection."
The ruling was issued two days before the Trump administration sent 17 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador's CECOT prison.
Among the 17 alleged gang members sent to El Salvador was Maiker Espinoza Escalona, who was being held in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo after being deported from the U.S.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU, told ABC News he has serious concerns about what he called the government's "sudden allegations" against Escalona that precipitated Escalona's being sent to CECOT.
"He and others being sent to the Salvadoran prison must be given due process to test the government's assertions," Gelernt said.
A White House official told ABC News that the 17 alleged gang members who were deported to El Salvador were not deported under the Alien Enemies Act that was used to send more than 200 alleged gang members to El Salvador last this month, but under different authorities, including Title 8.
The announcement of the "counter-terrorism operation" from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, included no mention of the authority the administration used to deport the 17 individuals.
"DHS' routine failure to provide meaningful notice and opportunity to present a fear-based claim prior to deportation to a third country has led to hundreds of unlawful deportations, placing individuals at serious risk of persecution, torture, and/or death," attorneys for the detainees said in a complaint last week.
Escalona, who entered the U.S. on May 14 and requested asylum, filed a sworn declaration in early March in which he stated that he was not a gang member and asked the government not to send him to Guantanamo.
"I believe that I am at risk of being transferred because I have a final order of deportation and am from Venezuela," Escalona said in the sworn declaration. "I also believe that I am going to be transferred to Guantanamo because of my tattoos, even though they have nothing to do with gangs. I have twenty tattoos."
Authorities have said they use tattoos to help identify gang members. Escalona, who said in his declaration that he had been in immigration detention in El Paso, Texas, since May 22, listed his tattoos that he said include a cross, a crown, the ghost icon for the social media app Snapchat, his niece's name, and the word "Faith" in Spanish.
"I do not want to be transferred to or detained at Guantanamo. I am afraid of what will happen to me when I get there," Escalona said in the declaration. "I want access to an attorney to help me get out of detention and figure out what options I have in my immigration case."
"If I am transferred to Guantanamo, I will be separated from my family," he said.
The government opposed Escalona's request for a temporary restraining order prohibiting his deportation to Guantanano, Gelernt told ABC News.
"The government opposed our request for TRO on the ground that he was not in imminent danger of being sent from the U.S. to Guantanamo, but told the Court they would alert it within 2 business days if he or other Plaintiffs were transferred to Guantanamo," Gelernt said. "The government has apparently chosen to use a loophole and transfer him on a Friday night, thereby avoiding notice to the Court at this point. He has apparently now been transferred to the notorious Salvadoran prison."
According to Escalona's sworn declaration and the ACLU, his partner is currently detained in El Paso and his 2-year-old daughter is under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
This story has been updated.
