A deeply alarming story has just been published. It documents the coordinated attack against the rights of more than 252 expelled Venezuelans sent to El Salvador under former President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and others released reports that shine a light on the inhumane and degrading conditions Venezuelans encounter when escaping the brutal regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. These truths are indeed gruesome. Their stories are gut-wrenching.
The Venezuelans, the majority of whom were asylum seekers, were detained in a detention center called Cecot. Even when they were there, they underwent constant physical and emotional torture. Relatively minor transgressions, such as raising one’s voice or asking for medical care, could lead to an agonizing whipping. One former inmate, Gonzalo Y, recounted the chilling message delivered by the facility’s director upon their arrival: “You have arrived in hell.”
The report includes detailed forensic corroboration of testimonies from the detainees. In doing so, it sheds light on the extreme physical and psychological trauma these individuals endure. Prisoners have chronicled their stories of sexual assault. One man alleged that a guard forced him to give oral sex.
Along with sexual violence, detainees described being regularly beaten beginning on their first day in Cecot. The climate was one of constant terror and savagery, molded to create submission in the convicts. Noah Bullock, a representative from one of the organizations involved in the report, remarked that the administration wanted to “demonstrate and send a message of brutality.”
The Trump administration further enabled this deportation program by ensuring that the Salvadoran government received $4.7 million to pay for the detention costs. In fact, just 3 percent of those deported had been convicted of a violent crime while living in the United States. Nearly half of them didn’t have a single arrest to their name. The Venezuelans received an unfairly low label as “terrorists” connected to Tren de Aragua, an organized crime group. Unlike most marketing campaigns, though, this branding came with no proof to support it.
This mass deportation was just one element of a much broader strategy. The supposed aim was to curb illegal immigration and respond to supposed threats to national security. Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the administration, stated, “President Trump is committed to keeping his promises to the American people by removing dangerous criminal and terrorist illegal aliens who pose a threat to the American public.” Critics contend this approach failed to prioritize the growing humanitarian crises confronting people fleeing violence and persecution.
The HRW report has already led to international calls for an independent investigation. People across the internet are calling on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the treatment of deported Venezuelans. Juanita Goebertus, a representative from HRW, stated, “We reached the conclusion that the Trump administration is complicit in systematic torture and enforced disappearances of the Venezuelans sent to El Salvador.” Furthermore, Goebertus noted that high-profile visits from U.S. officials to El Salvador indicated deeper complicity in these human rights violations.
Unbelievably, even in the wake of these shocking findings, some advocates of the deportation policy still defend it. And Jackson called on media organizations to change the way they report. He demanded that they lead with cases like American victims of violence perpetrated by illegal immigrants.
INHOPE’s report should be a wake-up call to the impact of political choices taken without regard to human rights. The systematic abuse faced by deported Venezuelans raises serious ethical questions about the treatment of asylum seekers and those seeking refuge from violence.