Human Rights Watch has reported that over 9,000 Salvadorans deported from the US since January 2025 have been forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained in El Salvador’s prison system without access to lawyers, family members or judicial review.
The Trump administration’s proposed actions to send immigrants to El Salvador or Libya without legal recourse violate the Constitution and due process, and could potentially affect U.S. citizens as well.
The Trump administration has taken steps to send immigrants allegedly present illegally in the United States to El Salvador, despite a federal judge blocking the move, and has suggested sending them to Libya, which has been warned by the State Department not to visit, raising concerns about the erosion of civil liberties and the potential danger of sending American citizens to foreign prisons.
President Trump and El Salvador’s authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele have rejected a Supreme Court order to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father of three, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador despite a standing U.S. court order blocking his removal.
The Salvadoran government has offered to accept deportees from the US, but those with tattoos will be imprisoned for having gang membership, while others face the risk of parole and deportation to El Salvador.