Deportees sent by Trump to Salvadoran prison are still stuck a year later - The Washington Post

Brandon Sigaran Cruz was only 9 when his parents brought him and his brother to the United States, far away from the gangs recruiting young boys in the elementary schools of El Salvador.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Samantha Schmidt , Karen DeYoung and David Nakamura Brandon Sigaran Cruz was only 9 when his parents brought him and his brother to the United States, far away from the gangs recruiting young boys in the elementary schools of El Salvador”

Washingtonpost

The next time he set foot in his native country was more than a decade later, on March 15 of last year, when the Trump administration deported the 21-year-old alongside more than 260 migrants to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, an infamous megaprison known for human rights abuses that is completely cut off from the outside world.

Sigaran has no known criminal record in El Salvador.

But for an entire year, he has remained imprisoned with no access to a lawyer, no contact with his family and no prospect of a trial before a judge, according to human rights lawyer Kelvi Zambrano.

He was deported under an agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that became one of President Donald Trump’s most aggressive and attention-drawing immigration enforcement initiatives in his early months in office.

The majority of the migrants sent to CECOT were Venezuelans who the Trump administration said were members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuela-based gang — often without presenting evidence or offering a chance to contest the claim.

After being held for four months, the Venezuelans were released to their home country as part of a prisoner swap.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Samantha Schmidt , Karen DeYoung and David Nakamura Brandon Sigaran Cruz was only 9 when his parents brought him and his brother to the United States, far away from the gangs recruiting young boys in the elementary schools of El Salvador”

Washingtonpost

The U.S. also deported 23 Salvadorans that same day a year ago, including Kilmar Abrego García, an undocumented immigrant living in Maryland whose removal the Trump administration admitted was a mistake because an immigration judge had barred his return to El Salvador over concerns he would be persecuted.

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered the Trump administration to bring Abrego back to the U.S., where he now faces human smuggling charges.

He has pleaded not guilty.

The Department of Homeland Security had classified the Salvadorans as gang members and criminals in deciding whom to put on the planes, according to a person familiar with U.S. decision-making, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

DHS said the men deported to CECOT were “human rights abusers, gang members … or suspected terrorists.”

“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Samantha Schmidt , Karen DeYoung and David Nakamura Brandon Sigaran Cruz was only 9 when his parents brought him and his brother to the United States, far away from the gangs recruiting young boys in the elementary schools of El Salvador”

Washingtonpost

“They may not have criminal records in the U.S., beyond breaking our laws to enter the country illegally, but many of these illegal aliens are far from innocent,” DHS said in a statement.

“If you come to our country illegally, you could end up in CECOT, GITMO, or another third country.”

Asked about Sigaran’s case, DHS said he was a “confirmed MS-13” gang member, but provided no evidence.

Two communications officials for the Bukele government did not respond to a request for comment on the deported Salvadorans who remain detained, including Sigaran.

On Wednesday, Bukele posted a video in which he acknowledges that prisoners have human rights, but criticizes those who “only defend the human rights of criminals.”

A group of international jurists last week released a report concluding there are reasonable grounds to believe that El Salvador has committed in its prisons crimes against humanity, including arbitrary imprisonment, torture and enforced disappearances — a policy “known and promoted by the highest levels of government.”

Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sought to block their removal, ruling in December that the government must provide the 137 Venezuelans who were deported under the Alien Enemies Act a chance to challenge their deportations, either by returning them to the U.S. or allowing them remote hearings from abroad.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Samantha Schmidt , Karen DeYoung and David Nakamura Brandon Sigaran Cruz was only 9 when his parents brought him and his brother to the United States, far away from the gangs recruiting young boys in the elementary schools of El Salvador”

Washingtonpost

Boasberg also has resumed criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration in that case.

The courts have since blocked the administration from deporting anyone else under the Alien Enemies Act.

Despite these legal battles, immigration attorneys said the administration was successful in using the CECOT gambit to spread fear in immigrant communities.

A coalition of rights organizations filed a request last summer for an emergency order from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, noting that at least 36 Salvadorans were “being held incommunicado” after being transferred from the U.S.A.

The commission granted precautionary measures ordering the Bukele government to protect three of the detainees, including Sigaran.

In court filings from El Salvador, the government confirmed that some detainees were moved to a different prison in Santa Ana.

But Sigaran remained at CECOT, the government said.