Congresswoman Delia Ramirez is “urgently” requesting a congressional hearing regarding the use of federal funds to pay El Salvador to detain immigrants inside a secretive terrorism prison, according to a letter she sent to the US House’s homeland security committee.
Ramirez, an Illinois representative and Democrat who sits on the committee, is requesting a hearing to address “human rights abuses” at the facility, where the US government sent nearly 300 immigrants after Donald Trump’s second presidency began in January.
The Guardian viewed Friday’s request letter, sent by Ramirez to the homeland security committee chair, Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican. Details continue to emerge regarding the treatment of Venezuelans by Salvadorian prison officials.
On 18 July, the US, El Salvador and Venezuela engaged in a prisoner swap that released 252 Venezuelan men from the notorious Central American megaprison.
According to press reports, Venezuelan immigrants who were sent by the US to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as Cecot for its Spanish acronym, have said they were subjected to horrific abuse, including beatings, torture, denial of food and, in one case, sexual assault. Lawyers for some of the men said they endured “state-sanctioned torture”, the Guardian reported.
“I am concerned that, in paying the Salvadoran government to detain immigrants at Cecot, the administration funded human rights violations with taxpayer dollars,” Ramirez’s letter says. “I urgently request that we hold a hearing on how US funds were used to enable these flagrant human rights abuses at Cecot.”
Garbarino did not immediately respond to a request from the Guardian for comment about Ramirez’s letter.
The second Trump administration has designated a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, a foreign terrorist organization. In March, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act and claimed that the Venezuelan government had sent members of Tren de Aragua to “invade” the US.
Intelligence agencies reportedly contradicted the administration’s claims linking the gang to the Venezuelan government. But in mid-March, immigration officers quietly filled planes with Venezuelan and Salvadorian immigrants who were detained by the US and quickly sent them to El Salvador to be detained in the Cecot prison.
A federal judge ordered the planes to return after they took off. Despite the court order, the flights arrived in El Salvador, setting the stage for a unresolved court battle between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary.
See more of the Guardian’s immigration crackdown charts and data here.
The Trump administration sent more people to El Salvador’s Cecot prison later in March.
After the expulsions and deportations, news reports revealed that the US government relied on flimsy evidence to accuse the deported immigrants of gang membership.
One case that gained significant media attention was that of Andry Hernández Romero, a 32-year-old gay make-up artist whose crown tattoos near the words “Mom” and “Dad” in Spanish were cited as evidence that he was a gang member. His attorney has said that one of the tattoos honored his favorite soccer team, Real Madrid, whose logo includes a crown.
The Venezuelan men were detained in Cecot for months and released on 28 July in a prisoner swap. The Venezuelan men were sent back to Venezuela, while a number of US nationals detained in the country were returned to the US – among them a former US marine who had been convicted of a triple-murder. The Salvadoran men sent to Cecot by the US government were not released as part of the swap.
After his release, Hernández Romero told journalists his time in Cecot was “an encounter with torture and death”, Reuters reported. “Many of our fellows have wounds from the nightsticks; they have fractured ribs, fractured fingers and toes, marks from the handcuffs, others have marks on their chests, on their face … from the projectiles.”
In another interview with Venezuelan media, Hernández Romero said he was sexually abused by guards.
The Venezuelan government has said it will investigate El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele, a close Trump ally, over the alleged abuses.
Bukele’s Cecot prison has been a defining centerpiece of his administration in recent years. In 2022, Bukele declared a state of exception, leading to a massive crackdown on gangs in the country and the construction of a network of secretive prisons, including Cecot. Bukele’s government has invited US representatives, social media influencers and international media to tour the facility.
Details of the deal between the US government and El Salvador to detain the nearly 300 immigrants are still mired in secrecy. The US frequently invoked the “state secrets” privilege during court proceedings to avoid any disclosures regarding its deal with Bukele.
In recent months, more questions have arisen regarding the deal between the Trump administration and Bukele. During the Alien Enemies Act expulsions, the Trump administration expelled a top MS-13 leader to El Salvador and is currently trying to return a second one, leading to accusations that the US is trying to do a favor for Bukele.
Bukele reportedly requested the return of key MS-13 leaders from US custody, critics say, to allegedly prevent them from revealing further information about a controversial 2019 pact between his government and the gang.
