Human Rights Watch: US/El Salvador: Deportees Forcibly Disappeared
El Salvador is forcibly disappearing and arbitrarily detaining Salvadorans deported from the United States, Human Rights Watch said today, one year after some of the men were sent to El Salvador.
The detained people are among more than 9,000 Salvadorans deported by the United States since the start of 2025. Some of them were deported on March 15, 2025, alongside the Venezuelans who were tortured and, in some cases, sexually abused in the Center for Terrorism Confinement (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, CECOT) mega prison.
“Whatever the criminal history of these Salvadoran men, they have a right to due process, to be taken before a judge, and their relatives are entitled to know where they are being held and why,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Deportation cannot mean enforced disappearance.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 relatives and lawyers of 11 Salvadorans who were deported from the United States between mid-March and mid-October 2025 and then immediately detained in El Salvador. Like most detainees in El Salvador, these men have not been allowed to communicate with their relatives or lawyers.
None of the relatives or lawyers have had any indication from the authorities that the men have been brought before a judge since their arrival. Some have not been informed of where their loved ones are held, or why. In five cases, relatives learned about deportees’ whereabouts only though litigation at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The Trump administration has alleged that several of the Salvadorans are members of the MS-13 gang. The United States disclosed that one of them is César Humberto López Larios (“El Greñas”), a known MS-13 gang leader. Neither US nor Salvadoran authorities have provided evidence or information to substantiate the claim that any of the others are gang members.
