HRW Accuses El Salvador of Disappearing US Deportees

A new report from Human Rights Watch has accused El Salvador of forcibly disappearing and arbitrarily detaining Salvadoran nationals deported from the United States, leaving families in anguish over their loved ones' fates. The findings, based on interviews with relatives and lawyers, highlight cases involving 11 men deported between March and October 2025 who were immediately sent to the country's maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, without access to communication or legal proceedings.

Since January 2025, when an agreement was reached between the United States and El Salvador to accept deportees into its prison system, more than 9,000 Salvadorans have been removed from the U.S. An analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data by the rights group shows that only 10.5 percent of them had convictions in the United States for violent or potentially violent crimes. Many had lived in the U.S. for years, some fleeing gang violence or extortion in El Salvador, and had served sentences for non-violent offenses like drug possession.

The 11 deportees featured in the report have not been allowed to contact family members or attorneys, and authorities have...