Venezuelans once detained in notorious El Salvador prison seek justice in US courts
Caracas, Venezuela - Venezuelan migrants among the 252 rounded up in the US in March and sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison demanded Friday the chance to challenge their designation as gang members before US courts.
At a press conference in Caracas, representatives of the men said they wanted a chance to clear their names.
The administration of President Donald Trump expelled the men by invoking the Alien Enemies Act and claiming they were members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang.
They were detained and sent to El Salvador's so-called Terrorism Confinement Center, where many say they were tortured.
The men were released four months later in a prisoner exchange deal with the US and returned to Venezuela.
A federal court in Washington this week ordered the Trump administration to draw up a plan to "facilitate the return" of dozens of the men.
A judge ruled they "should not have been removed in the manner that they were, with virtually no notice and no opportunity to contest the bases of their removal."
The court ordered the US government to give the men a chance to contest their gang designations in legal proceedings. This could also be done in other countries, it ruled.
The court gave the government two weeks to submit a proposal.
In a statement read out on their behalf on Friday, the migrants urged the US and Salvadoran governments to comply with the ruling.
Migrants seek to clear their names after being sent to CECOT
They said the court's decision "sets a crucial precedent for the protection of the rights of all migrants who leave their homes under hardship and vulnerability and who, for the most part, are humble, hard‑working families."
One of the men affected, 34-year-old Arturo Suarez, told AFP: "We want our names cleared and obviously for them to pay and try to make amends for what they did to us unjustly."
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele built the CECOT to house criminals in his own war on gangs.
The Trump administration paid El Salvador $6 million to keep the Venezuelans behind bars in a move widely condemned by rights groups.
Caracas is investigating alleged crimes against humanity.
Cover photo: MARVIN RECINOS / AFP