Since March 15, some 260 men have been imprisoned in the high-security CECOT prison in El Salvador. The men ended up in CECOT because the United States government secretly detained and transferred them without a court order. The Trump administration claims they are dangerous criminals, but most of them have no criminal records. A report has further revealed that at least 50 of them entered the United States legally, even though the government insists its anti-immigration crackdown targets undocumented immigrants.
“These people came to the United States with advanced U.S. government permission, were vetted and screened before arrival, violated no U.S. immigration law, and the U.S. government turned around and ‘disappeared’ them without due process to a foreign prison,” concludes the report by the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank.
To prepare the report — given the government’s lack of transparency — the Cato Institute collected information provided by families, corroborated by official entry documents, witness statements, and government comments about the men.
One of the legal migrants held a temporary visa, and four had authorization through the U.S. refugee program because they faced persecution in their countries. The other 45 had scheduled appointments with authorities through CBP One, the app developed by the Biden administration to prevent illegal entries that the Trump administration shut down. Of these, 24 were granted parole in the United States, where they could legally live and work for up to two years, while the other 21 were detained at the port of entry.
