El Salvador deportations before Supreme Court
April 2, 2025
Lawyers for Venezuelan migrants accused of being members of a violent street gang asked the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain a temporary block on the Trump administration’s use of a wartime law to summarily send hundreds of people to a prison in El Salvador, reports the New York Times.
A brief filed on behalf of the immigrants by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward said that block is now “the only thing” preventing the Trump administration from sending immigrants “to a prison in El Salvador, perhaps never to be seen again, without any kind of procedural protection, much less judicial review.” (New York Times)
“It’s likely that presidents have been reluctant to use this power in the past, even during other wars, because the authority provided by the Alien Enemies Act is extraordinarily draconian,” according to Vox.
In a 42-page filing to the justices, the lawyers said the government’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act should not apply since there is no declared war with Venezuela and that courts must be able to review whether individuals have been mistakenly labeled as members of the feared Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang. (Miami Herald)
Twenty-seven of the Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemy Act, whose cases Reuters reviewed, were never ordered deported. They have upcoming immigration court hearings to make their asylum and other claims to stay in the United States, according to immigration court records, even though they are now in El Salvador.
The case of Andry José Hernández Romero, a 31-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker deported by the U.S. to a maximum security prison in El Salvador has emerged as a counter to the Trump administration’s claims that people deported under the Alien Enemy Act are criminals.
Hernández, a makeup artist, told authorities he was fleeing persecution stemming from his sexual orientation and political views. U.S. authorities point to his tattoos as proof of gang affiliation, but experts and local residents in Venezuela say the tattoos are cultural and not linked to Tren de Aragua. (New Yorker, Guardian)
In a separate case, the Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing that it had wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant living in Maryland to El Salvador despite a judge’s ruling prohibiting it, but said U.S. officials are unable to return the man to his family in the United States, reports the Washington Post. (See yesterday’s briefs.)
“The Justice Department, even as it acknowledged the mistake, said it could not use diplomacy or financial pressures to free Abrego García because it would threaten U.S. foreign policy and its relationship with an ally in the fight against gangs,” reports the Washington Post.
More Deportations
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered consular officers to scrutinize the social media content of some applicants for student and other types of visas, in an effort to bar those suspected of criticizing the United States and Israel from entering the country, reports the New York Times.
Regional Relations
Óscar Arias Sánchez, the Nobel laureate and former Costa Rican president, said on yesterday that the United States had revoked his visa to enter the country, with no reason given. Arias has been critical of the Trump administration on social media, reports the New York Times
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said yesterday that there are more lists of names of alleged drug traffickers for extradition to the United States — ahead of Trump’s expected tariff announcement today, reports Reuters.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke with Sheinbaum yesterday about Canada's plan to "fight unjustified trade actions" by the United States, reports Reuters.
Tariffs
Trump is set announced sweeping new tariffs later today, escalating a trade war with global partners, risking cost increases and upending a decades-old trade order, reports Reuters. It is still not clear whether a flat rate will be applied globally, or if the charge will vary by country instead, reports the Guardian.
“The consensus among economists is damning,” writes Ishaan Tharoor, and a number of analysts say the move will create opportunities for China to improve relations with traditional U.S. allies. (Washington Post)
Mexico
The investigation into a cartel recruit training ranch in western Mexico has revealed Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s online recruiting techniques and complicit local authorities, reports the Associated Press.
Argentina
News of a $20 billion deal between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund has so far failed to dispel traders' anxiety around country's peso currency, reports Reuters.
El Salvador
Cases of prison corruption documented by El Faro include payment for visitation and the bartering of construction materials or office goods; and, for thousands of dollars, the admission to a private hospital of inmates who are not ill.
Haiti
Mario Joseph, a human rights attorney in Haiti known for his involvement in high-profile cases, died due to injuries sustained in a car crash, reports the Associated Press.
Jamaica
Standing amid the ruins of Success, a former sugar plantation in rural Jamaica, crumbling structures potentially hide what the Jamaican archaeologist Dr Ivor Conolley believes may be a treasure trove of artefacts and monuments that could tell a story about Jamaica and Britain’s history of colonization and enslavement, reports the Guardian.
Flora
A new study based on research in Panama’s Barro Colorado Nature Monument, “reveals that some of the biggest trees in a rainforest don’t just survive lightning strikes. They thrive.” - New York Times