More than 12 families of Venezuelans sent to the CECOT file a complaint with the IACHR

Washington, (EFE) – A group of more than 12 families of Venezuelan migrants imprisoned in El Salvador after being expelled from the United States filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) seeking their release.

The document, which was submitted by a coalition of four U.S. organizations, requests that the IACHR issue an emergency measure against the Salvadoran government of Nayib Bukele for the “illegal detention of hundreds of individuals forcibly and irregularly transferred” to the Central American country.

In mid-March, the United States decided to transfer more than 230 migrants—mostly Venezuelans—to the Salvadoran mega-prison known as CECOT, notorious for reports of human rights abuses.

The Trump administration accused the migrants of being part of the Tren de Aragua (Aragua Train), a transnational criminal gang that Washington described as “terrorist.” However, several reports have shown that the majority of them—90% according to the New York-based Bloomberg—have no criminal record.

The lawsuit alleges that the migrants have been held incommunicado for more than two months and asks the IACHR to force El Salvador to “comply with its international legal obligations” and cooperate with the US to release the detainees.

“This is a moral and legal failure of two governments and a human rights emergency that demands global attention,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council (GSLC), one of the plaintiff organizations, in a statement.

Mosselmans also accused the US of conspiring to “strip” hundreds of people of “their rights and freedom”:

“The United States and El Salvador have colluded to strip hundreds of people, including many individuals with pending asylum applications in the US, of their rights and freedom.”

“These are state-sanctioned forced disappearances and they must end now,” he added.

The US government reached an agreement with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to send migrants detained in the US to the CECOT (Central American Criminal Investigation Unit).

As part of the deal, the specific details of which are unknown, Washington will pay El Salvador $6 million annually to maintain its prison system.

The US Supreme Court has prohibited the government from continuing the expulsions to the Central American country while several lawsuits against this practice are resolved in lower courts.

The Republican president invoked a 1789 law, known as the Alien Enemies Act, to justify the expulsions of Venezuelan migrants.

The US government’s use of this law, invoked in the past during times of war, has sparked a wave of criticism from the Democratic opposition and legal experts, who are now speaking of a constitutional crisis.