El Salvador holds US accountable for detained migrants, according to the law

(The Hill) – The government of El Salvador has formally asserted it is the U.S., not the Central American nation, that retains “legal responsibility” for Venezuelans held in one of their megaprisons, contradicting Trump administration claims.

The disclosure was made to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and submitted in court filings by those challenging President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to send some 200 Venezuelan men to be held in the country’s most notorious prison.

“The jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters,” El Salvador said, referring to the U.S.

The comments are at odds with statements given by White House and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, who have claimed they cannot seek the return of the men, as they are now in the custody of the Salvadoran government.

“El Salvador has confirmed what we and everyone else understood: it is the United States that controls what happens to the Venezuelans languishing at CECOT. Remarkably the U.S. government didn’t provide this information to us or the court,” American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyer Lee Gelernt, who is representing some of the men, said in an email.

The filing from the ACLU seeks to order additional discovery in the case and argues the Trump administration violated its obligation to share information about its arrangement with El Savlador.

In a meeting in the White House with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, President Trump said it was up to the Salvadoran leader whether to release a man who was the subject of another case mistakenly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

And in court, the Trump administration has argued they were powerless in any effort to secure the return of the men, saying they were beyond the reach of the U.S. legal system and that their fate rests with El Salvador.

The Trump administration in mid-March deported Venezuelans to the infamous CECOT prison, known by its acronym in Spanish, as well as some Salvadorans. 

A DOJ whistleblower has accused principal associate deputy attorney general Emil Bove of suggesting the department may need to defy court orders grounding flights set to deport men under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Trump administration has agreed to pay El Salvador $15 million to imprison the men, according to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who shared the figure after traveling to El Salvador to meet with government officials as well as Abrego Garcia.