Deportation Crisis: Salvadoran Nationals Face Arbitrary Detention in CECOT

Tue Mar 17 2026 04:08:56 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

A Human Rights Watch report reveals the troubling fate of Salvadoran nationals deported from the US, who are allegedly disappearing into El Salvador's prison system, raising humanitarian concerns over their treatment and legal rights.

Salvadorans deported from the US are being detained arbitrarily in El Salvador following their deportation, as highlighted by a Human Rights Watch report. Families are left in distress, fearing for the safety of their relatives, as the new administration's state of emergency has suspended key constitutional rights, leading to widespread detentions, often without due process.

MIAMI (AP) — Salvadoran nationals who were deported from the United States have been arbitrarily detained in El Salvador and have disappeared into the Central American nation’s prison system, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Monday.

The detainees featured in the report are among more than 9,000 Salvadorans deported from the U.S. since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second administration in January 2025. Some of them were deported alongside Venezuelans and sent to the Center for Terrorism Confinement, a mega prison in El Salvador also known as CECOT, according to the New York-based human rights group.

The report did not specify how many are subject to arbitrary detention. The group interviewed 20 relatives and lawyers of 11 Salvadorans who were deported from the U.S. between March and October 2025 and were immediately detained in El Salvador. The detainees cannot communicate with their families or talk to lawyers, the group said.

“They have a right to due process, to be taken before a judge, and their relatives are entitled to know where they are being held and why,” said Juanita Goebertus, the Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Deportation cannot mean enforced disappearance.”

El Salvador’s Presidential Office did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Detainees disappearing into El Salvador’s prison system has become a regular phenomenon since President Nayib Bukele declared a “state of emergency” in March 2022 to suppress the country’s gangs.

The once temporary measure, which has been extended for nearly four years, suspends key constitutional rights and has led to around 91,300 people being detained in El Salvador. Bukele claims that 8,000 innocent people have been released.

Most detainees have been captured based on scant evidence and vague accusations, with very little access to due process; prisoners are often judged in mass trials, and lawyers regularly lose track of their clients.

Prisons have been accused of human rights abuses for years, with rights groups documenting cases of beatings by prison guards, sexual abuse, and deteriorating conditions. Families of detainees often agonize, unsure if they will ever see their loved ones again.

Human Rights Watch stated that Salvadoran authorities have provided no information indicating that any detainees have been brought before a judge. The relatives of some detainees revealed they do not know where they are being held or why.

Many Salvadoran deportees have family in the U.S. One mother expressed her despair: “I still know nothing about my son, nothing. I want information. I want someone to tell me that my son is okay.” She discovered six months post-deportation that her son was in El Salvador after stumbling upon a photo shared by Bukele that displayed detainees at CECOT.

The Trump administration asserts that several Salvadorans deported are linked to the MS-13 gang, but Human Rights Watch noted that only 10.5% of those deported had a violent crime conviction in the U.S.

This situation continues to raise urgent humanitarian concerns as multiple families remain desperate for news about their loved ones caught in the web of arbitrary detention.