Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman: “Since March, the Trump-Vance administration has sought to operate in the shadows without public transparency as it removes people from the country under false pretenses or without any process at all.”

Washington, D.C. – In a new filing in J.G.G. v. Trump, Democracy Forward and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have made public a document submitted by the government of El Salvador to the United Nations that defers responsibility to the United States for prisoners who have been removed from the country to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison. This is a significant and shocking contradiction to what the Trump-Vance administration has stated publicly and in court for months regarding its now debunked claim that it lacked authority over the deported migrants in El Salvador.

In March, Democracy Forward and the ACLU sued the Trump-Vance administration for invoking the wartime Alien Enemies Act. The lawsuit alleges that President Trump’s intention to use the wartime law during peacetime to accelerate mass removals is unlawful and sidesteps due process for individuals.

Read the notice to the court here. Read the original filing here. 

See Coverage Below:

The New York Times: Document Casts Doubt on White House’s Claims About Deported Venezuelans

For the past several months, the Trump administration has insisted in court that it has no control over the nearly 140 Venezuelan immigrants it deported to a prison in El Salvador this spring under the powers of a rarely used wartime statute.

On Monday, however, lawyers for the Venezuelan men produced a document indicating that the government of El Salvador recently told the United Nations that it, in fact, bears no legal responsibility for the men. The document, written in response to a U.N. inquiry examining some of the deportations, also claimed that the Salvadoran government was merely doing the United States’ bidding when it accepted the men into its prison system.

“We are pleased that El Salvador publicly told the truth about what we all knew: that it’s the United States that controls the fate of the Venezuelans,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which, along with another legal group, Democracy Forward, has been representing the men. “That the United States did not provide us or the court with this information is extraordinary.”

Skye Perryman, the president and chief executive of Democracy Forward, added, “The documents filed with the court today show that the administration has not been honest with the court or the American people.”

Associated Press: Migrants deported from US to Salvadoran prison remain under US control, Salvadoran officials tell UN

The government of El Salvador has acknowledged to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains control of the Venezuelan men who were deported from the U.S. to a notorious Salvadoran prison, contradicting public statements by officials in both countries.

The revelation was contained in court filings Monday by lawyers for more than 100 migrants who are seeking to challenge their deportations to El Salvador’s mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

Skye Perryman, CEO and president of Democracy Forward, said the documents show “that the administration has not been honest with the court or the American people.” The ACLU and Democracy Forward are both representing the migrants.

The Washington Post: El Salvador says for first time that U.S. controls fate of jailed deportees

Salvadoran officials have said for the first time that more than 130 Venezuelan migrants who have been detained for months in a megaprison in El Salvador remain under the responsibility of the United States, according to a court document filed Monday.

The acknowledgment was contained in a filing by the migrants’ lawyers in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. It marks a significant contradiction to the Trump administration’s repeated claims that it lacked the authority to bring back the migrants because they are no longer in U.S. custody.

In the court filing, the ACLU and its co-counsel, Democracy Forward Foundation, allege that the Trump administration was aware of the Salvadoran government’s statements to the United Nations and chose not to share the information with the court because U.S. officials are copied in the Salvadoran responses, which are dated in April.

“The documents filed with the court today show that the administration has not been honest with the court or the American people,” said Skye Perryman, chief executive and president of Democracy Forward.

Bloomberg: Lawyers Say New Evidence Challenges Trump on El Salvador Prisons

Lawyers for Venezuelans sent to a prison in El Salvador claim new evidence “contradicts” the US government’s claims that Salvadoran officials, not the Trump administration, have legal authority over the men.

Attorneys on Monday filed a copy of statements that El Salvador submitted to a United Nations human rights office in April, stating that “the jurisdiction and legal responsibility” for detainees “lie exclusively” with the United States under agreements between the two countries.

“The documents filed with the court today show that the administration has not been honest with the court or the American people,” Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, one of the groups representing the Venezuelans, said in a statement.

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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.