Release Made as Part of Lawsuit Challenging Legality and Constitutionality of Trump-Vance Administration’s Agreement With El Salvador
New Information Released Exposes Trump-Vance Administration’s Unlawful and Inhumane Scheme to Disappear People
Washington, D.C. — The terms of a previously secret grant agreement between the United States and El Salvador facilitating the Trump-Vance administration’s practice of disappearing people indefinitely from U.S. territory into El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison without due process, legal justification, or public accountability have, for the first time, been made available as part of an ongoing lawsuit. The suit, which is pending in federal court in the District of Columbia, is Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights et al. v. U.S. Department of State et al. Plaintiffs, represented by Democracy Forward and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (who represent themselves), secured the release of the document after filing a motion challenging the federal government’s broad claim that it should remain out of public view.
“This disclosure shows, yet again, that litigation is playing a critical role in securing some measure of transparency from the U.S. government. After the Trump-Vance administration insisted that the terms of its arrangement with El Salvador to facilitate the disappearance of people from U.S. territory be kept secret and out of public view, our team secured the release of this information so the American people can know what their government has done,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “While the American people should not be required to go to court to secure this information, we are pleased that our litigation led to this important information being released. The correspondence between the U.S. State Department and El Salvador confirms what we have long suspected: the Trump-Vance administration did nothing to meaningfully ensure that individuals disappeared from the U.S. to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison were protected from torture, indefinite confinement, or other abuses. The agreement did, however, go to lengths to ensure that the funds the U.S. provided to El Salvador not be used to provide reproductive health care or to assist asylum seekers in accessing resources and counsel.”
The public disclosure of this document and its terms marks a significant victory in the ongoing lawsuit. The Trump-Vance administration sought to invoke broad protections from public disclosure over the information, but ultimately backed off after the parties had fully briefed the plaintiffs’ motion for the court to compel the public release of the information.
This first-of-its-kind lawsuit challenges the legality and constitutionality of the agreement between the Trump-Vance administration and the government of El Salvador. During the ongoing litigation, the administration produced correspondence between the U.S. Department of State and El Salvador that outlines key terms of a financial arrangement by which the U.S. paid El Salvador to detain individuals who had been in U.S. territory.
According to the newly released correspondence, El Salvador agreed to detain people rendered from the U.S. before President Trump signed a proclamation purporting to invoke the Alien Enemies Act and to remove individuals from U.S. territory. On March 22, 2025, after the administration ignored a federal court order and removed more than 200 individuals to El Salvador without proper process, the U.S. Department of State provided El Salvador with $4.76 million.
The correspondence indicates that, as a condition of the funds, the U.S. required El Salvador to agree, among other things, to refrain from assisting asylum seekers in obtaining resources and counsel or using the funds to provide reproductive health care. Notably, the grant agreement does not have any provisions requiring that El Salvador refrain from torturing, detaining people in indefinite confinement, or avoiding other abusive practices inside CECOT.
Plaintiffs in the suit are Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Immigration Equality, and the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. Democracy Forward attorneys representing plaintiffs include Jessica Morton, Kevin Friedl, and Robin F. Thurston. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights attorneys include Anthony Enriquez, Sarah Gillman, and Sarah Decker.