In February of 2025, the United States Department of State entered into an Agreement with El Salvador which allowed the United States to remove individuals to be held in an El Salvadorian prison system infamous for its human rights abuses, inhumane prison conditions, and lack of due process. As of June 2025, hundreds of individuals have been deported and placed in these facilities, the largest of which is the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT).
Plaintiffs—a coalition of immigrant-rights organizations and criminal defense lawyers (Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Immigration Equality, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, and the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice)—filed this suit to challenge the Trump administration’s agreement with El Salvador of disappearing people into the CECOT prison system in El Salvador as unlawful and in violation of U.S. federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
Technical Summary
Plaintiffs allege that the federal government’s Agreement with El Salvador violates the APA as being contrary to law and multiple provisions of the U.S. Constitution, including the First Amendment (free exercise of religion), Fifth Amendment (due process), Sixth Amendment (right to counsel) and Eighth Amendment (protection against cruel and unusual punishment), arbitrary and capricious, and in excess of statutory authority. Plaintiffs also allege that the agreement was ultra vires. Plaintiffs seek that the Agreement be declared unlawful and set aside, and that the court enjoin defendants from further implementing, effectuating, or reinstating the Agreement under a different name.
Latest Updates
- 06/05/2025
