Thanks, Austin. These things should be known by everyone. As you mentioned, the DOS report you're reading is from 2023. We should soon be up to 2024 (I believe these are published in April). I can only imagine what the new El Salvador report will look like, as compared to the reports of the other NGOs. And I am facing cases where I would typically argue that imprisonment in El Salvador is akin to torture -- an idea that the DOS agreed with previously, but which is now antithetical to the beliefs & practices of the current admin. Since the DOS report is the heavyweight in the immigration court context, it will be wild, to say the least, to have all the NGOs on the opposite side, and El Salvador's report as benign as New Zealand's. This is what I'm imagining will happen, anyhow. Everything is so backwards.
Everything is SO backwards. I’m monitoring for the new DOS reports, so I’ll definitely share when it comes out. Thank you for your work, Paige, so crucial right now but probably harder than ever.
Thanks for this Austin- my only criticism is that you follow the report convention and use the past conjugation, when it would be more accurate to use the present tense. When I visited El Salvador last May, people told me directly about loved ones disappearing, living under military occupation, and the total lack of due process (mass hearings of hundreds at once, a faceless judge, and the vast majority of those rounded up are accused of a 'status crime' (illicit association) often based on hearsay-- rather than a crime of substance, such as a demonstrated harm, based on solid investigation). Last November we hosted Salvadoran human rights lawyers at my University who gave us the latest news on arbitrary arrests, on torture and state killings in the prison system, and on the targeted incarceration of Bukele's political opponents. As you may also be aware, while conducting his political spectacle of a 'crackdown,' behind the scenes Bukele has protected MS-13 members from extradition and given gang leaders the most comfortable and modern digs in the highly variable penal infrastructure, which also includes crumbling cinder block warehouses and steel cages with no running water where most of the deaths occur. This raises the distinct possibility that the administration is less concerned with actually investigating gangs, bringing accountability, and establishing order (much less upholding the rule of law, which would require the government to follow rather than suspend the Salvadoran Constitution) than they are with subordinating the gangs and incorporating their illicit activities into existing corruption networks within the state infrastructure. I think it's important to note that in addition to violating basic due process and human rights of detained people as the reports above indicate, over the past six years President Bukele's administration has also removed members of the Supreme Court, removed judges, removed the attorney general who was investigating them for corruption, changed the number of legislators and gerrymandered the country to achieve their majority, and ran their candidate for a second term (and won) despite the Constitutional prohibition against a president being elected twice, put in place after the civil war to prevent a return of the military dictatorships of the 20th century. It's not shocking to me that this is happening, but it is a chilling sign of the kind of police state that some would like to put in place in the US, and Bukele has created a roadmap in terms of propaganda, political abuses, and violent repression.
My wife grew up in Costa Rica. Until recently she was saying that Costa Rica needed a strong president like they have in El Salvador. She now sees their leader for what he really is.
We recently were asked by an El Salvadorian couple that we know, to write letters of support for them. They finally applied for asylum, after many years living here. The last thing they need is for our government to suddenly say that El Salvador is fine, when it’s not.
Thanks Austin for this very timely post. I have a Venezuelan client whom I was helping who was sent to El Salvador and according to his 9 month pregnant wife was arrested by ICE when he appeared for his hearing in the US in TX in January. She has been with him for 6 years, he is a mechanic and hard worker but had a tattoo, which is why he was likely abducted. If you know ANYONE who suspects their relative was sent to El Salvador, it's very important that they register the info here: https://www.togetherandfree.net/whatsapp-line
This is all so terrifying and most of the world believes Trump that they are all evil gang members. WAPO had a story that identified one person sent to El Salvador that is probably not a gang member.
Thank you, Austin, for an important and clear-headed piece making a point I have not seen elsewhere. These contradictions, laid out cleanly, chip at the regime’s ability to frame their actions as legitimate to the constituencies that empower them.
One point on nomenclature: This wasn’t deportation and it wasn’t extraordinary rendition, either—not for 250 people, not in defiance of a court order, not to CECOT.
Because that’s what it is: not just expulsion, but disappearance beyond jurisdiction, designed to sever legal ties and moral accountability all at once. Rather than sending someone “home”, they’re, en masse, removing them from the category of the governed altogether, purging the populace of those the regime finds “undesirable”.
Thanks, Austin. These things should be known by everyone. As you mentioned, the DOS report you're reading is from 2023. We should soon be up to 2024 (I believe these are published in April). I can only imagine what the new El Salvador report will look like, as compared to the reports of the other NGOs. And I am facing cases where I would typically argue that imprisonment in El Salvador is akin to torture -- an idea that the DOS agreed with previously, but which is now antithetical to the beliefs & practices of the current admin. Since the DOS report is the heavyweight in the immigration court context, it will be wild, to say the least, to have all the NGOs on the opposite side, and El Salvador's report as benign as New Zealand's. This is what I'm imagining will happen, anyhow. Everything is so backwards.
Everything is SO backwards. I’m monitoring for the new DOS reports, so I’ll definitely share when it comes out. Thank you for your work, Paige, so crucial right now but probably harder than ever.
Okay, looks like they're on script: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/03/marco-rubio-removes-lgbtq-people-women-from-annual-human-rights-report/
Wow. I mean, not shocking at this point but such a pointlessly cruel way to invisibilize women and LGBTQ folks.
Thanks for this Austin- my only criticism is that you follow the report convention and use the past conjugation, when it would be more accurate to use the present tense. When I visited El Salvador last May, people told me directly about loved ones disappearing, living under military occupation, and the total lack of due process (mass hearings of hundreds at once, a faceless judge, and the vast majority of those rounded up are accused of a 'status crime' (illicit association) often based on hearsay-- rather than a crime of substance, such as a demonstrated harm, based on solid investigation). Last November we hosted Salvadoran human rights lawyers at my University who gave us the latest news on arbitrary arrests, on torture and state killings in the prison system, and on the targeted incarceration of Bukele's political opponents. As you may also be aware, while conducting his political spectacle of a 'crackdown,' behind the scenes Bukele has protected MS-13 members from extradition and given gang leaders the most comfortable and modern digs in the highly variable penal infrastructure, which also includes crumbling cinder block warehouses and steel cages with no running water where most of the deaths occur. This raises the distinct possibility that the administration is less concerned with actually investigating gangs, bringing accountability, and establishing order (much less upholding the rule of law, which would require the government to follow rather than suspend the Salvadoran Constitution) than they are with subordinating the gangs and incorporating their illicit activities into existing corruption networks within the state infrastructure. I think it's important to note that in addition to violating basic due process and human rights of detained people as the reports above indicate, over the past six years President Bukele's administration has also removed members of the Supreme Court, removed judges, removed the attorney general who was investigating them for corruption, changed the number of legislators and gerrymandered the country to achieve their majority, and ran their candidate for a second term (and won) despite the Constitutional prohibition against a president being elected twice, put in place after the civil war to prevent a return of the military dictatorships of the 20th century. It's not shocking to me that this is happening, but it is a chilling sign of the kind of police state that some would like to put in place in the US, and Bukele has created a roadmap in terms of propaganda, political abuses, and violent repression.
Thank you for adding this important context, Miranda. It's a very concerning situation in El Salvador right now.
My wife grew up in Costa Rica. Until recently she was saying that Costa Rica needed a strong president like they have in El Salvador. She now sees their leader for what he really is.
We recently were asked by an El Salvadorian couple that we know, to write letters of support for them. They finally applied for asylum, after many years living here. The last thing they need is for our government to suddenly say that El Salvador is fine, when it’s not.
grim. and greatly appreciated.
Thanks Austin for this very timely post. I have a Venezuelan client whom I was helping who was sent to El Salvador and according to his 9 month pregnant wife was arrested by ICE when he appeared for his hearing in the US in TX in January. She has been with him for 6 years, he is a mechanic and hard worker but had a tattoo, which is why he was likely abducted. If you know ANYONE who suspects their relative was sent to El Salvador, it's very important that they register the info here: https://www.togetherandfree.net/whatsapp-line
This is all so terrifying and most of the world believes Trump that they are all evil gang members. WAPO had a story that identified one person sent to El Salvador that is probably not a gang member.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/03/18/trump-migrants-venezuelans-deportation-bukele/
God bless you for what you do!
FYI CBS News published the list of Venezuelans sent to El Salvador. Here is the link to the article with the list:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venezuelans-deported-el-salvador-names/
Thank you, Austin, for an important and clear-headed piece making a point I have not seen elsewhere. These contradictions, laid out cleanly, chip at the regime’s ability to frame their actions as legitimate to the constituencies that empower them.
One point on nomenclature: This wasn’t deportation and it wasn’t extraordinary rendition, either—not for 250 people, not in defiance of a court order, not to CECOT.
We need a new name for the new genus of rights abuse the Trump regime has birthed. I’ve been calling it Extraterritorial Purging (here, in case you find any part of the analysis valuable: https://theradicalfederalist.substack.com/p/cecots-hidden-horrors).
Because that’s what it is: not just expulsion, but disappearance beyond jurisdiction, designed to sever legal ties and moral accountability all at once. Rather than sending someone “home”, they’re, en masse, removing them from the category of the governed altogether, purging the populace of those the regime finds “undesirable”.
Also being held in Miami, 🤬:
https://substack.com/@lucy456751/note/c-101821524?r=56y9ac&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action