On March 27, 2022, on the heels of a weekend marked by dozens of gang-related murders, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and his legislature plunged the country into a régimen de excepción — a state of exception — and declared war against the gangs. The state of...
A Venezuelan with a disability was expelled from the United States and sent to El Salvador, where he will remain detained in the CECOT, along with 16 other migrants, without being guaranteed due process or the right to a defense. According to journalist Madeleine...
Last month, the Trump administration invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act to place hundreds of Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants on deportation flights to El Salvador on allegations that they were criminals with extensive gang ties. Though James Boasberg, a...
In April 2022, a woman received a WhatsApp message explaining the steps to follow to visit a detained relative at Mariona Prison: “First, we ask for discretion. Don’t post on social media or tell anyone because we would be exposed (sic).” The following messages...
The Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing Monday that it had grabbed a Maryland father with protected legal status and mistakenly deported him to El Salvador, but said that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction to order his return from the megaprison where he’s...
In the latest SJH report on 370 deaths recorded between April 3, 2022, and March 15, 2025, under the framework of the state of exception, there are 61 people who did not survive their first three months in prison. Of these, 40 died within the first 30 days. These...
