US expelling Venezuelans to El Salvador represents dangerous step toward authoritarianism, activists say News
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US expelling Venezuelans to El Salvador represents dangerous step toward authoritarianism, activists say

Amnesty International on Tuesday criticized the unlawful expulsion of 238 Venezuelan nationals from the United States to El Salvador, saying the action endangers their lives. The expulsion contravenes a court order, which barred removal of the Venezuelans.

In response to the deportation in defiance of the court’s decision, Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:

The expulsion of 238 individuals from the United States to El Salvador, despite a court order explicitly barring their removal, represents not only a flagrant disregard of the United States’ human rights obligations, but also a dangerous step toward authoritarian practices, as the Trump administration ignored the ruling and is now calling for the firing of a federal judge of the United States judiciary. This is also a dangerous endorsement of President Bukele’s punitive security agenda.

The expulsion also failed to follow the proper legal process for deportation, which requires removal orders from an immigration court. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials admitted that “many” of the 238 Venezuelans do not have a criminal record, and some were expelled based on the possibility of their committing a crime in the future.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has urged countries hosting Venezuelans not to repatriate them to their origin state. The agency urged states to provide Venezuelan refugees with access to basic rights and asylum procedures, citing the 1951 Refugee Convention. Even though the US declined to ratify the convention, the principle of non-refoulement is arguably a peremptory norm that states cannot derogate from.

The Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua (TdA) as a foreign terrorist organization on March 15. In the proclamation, US President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, stating that TdA had committed acts of invasion, perpetrated irregular warfare, and engaged in drug trafficking. The act allows the president to immediately apprehend, restrain, secure, and remove Alien Enemies.

In response, the court issued a 14-day temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the government from removing Venezuelan nationals solely based on the proclamation.

Further, the court denied the Trump administration’s request to vacate the TROs, citing the Venezuelans’ right to an individual hearing and the opportunity to challenge the accusations on Monday.

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