El Salvador says US is responsible for migrants sent to mega-prison, disputing Trump administration claims

​​​​​​​ISTANBUL

The government in El Salvador informed UN officials that the US is accountable for more than 200 migrants who were transferred to a mega-prison on charges of belonging to a violent gang, according to a US media report Tuesday.

El Salvador claimed in a report submitted to the UN Office for the High Commission of Human Rights that appears to contradict months of statements by President Donald Trump and his administration. The US has maintained that the migrants sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT prison, cannot be returned because they fall under El Salvador’s jurisdiction, ABC News reported.

“In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters,” El Salvador officials told the UN.

El Salvador’s remarks were included in a court filing that is probing the disappearance of four Venezuelan men who were reportedly sent to the prison in March. The Trump administration has yet to disclose who was transferred.

El Salvador said it had not “arrested, detained, or transferred” the individuals in question, asserting its role was solely to “facilitate the use of Salvadoran prison infrastructure” under a bilateral agreement.

The Trump administration, invoking an 18th-century wartime law used to remove foreigners, the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), used the mechanism to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua — described as a “hybrid criminal state,” to El Salvador with minimal due process.

The migrants were transferred to CECOT under a $6 million agreement between the Trump administration and El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, who filed a case in March challenging the removals under the AEA, said they only learned of the agreement last week through a victim’s family and accused the government of withholding it despite earlier requests for related records.

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