Venezuelan Sues US for $1.3M Over Wrongful Deportation to El Salvador Prison

A 28-year-old Venezuelan man who was deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador and held there for four months has filed a federal lawsuit against the United States, seeking at least $1.3 million in damages for what his attorneys describe as false imprisonment and violations of due process.

Neiyerver Adrián León Rengel filed the complaint on Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The suit accuses the government of wrongly identifying him as a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, detaining him without legal justification, and sending him to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, in March 2025 despite an active immigration case and no formal deportation order. León Rengel, a barber who lived in Irving, Texas, was released from CECOT in July 2025 as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela and returned to his home country.

León Rengel entered the United States legally in June 2023 at a port of entry using a Biden administration program for asylum seekers called CBP One. He underwent screenings, provided biometrics, and was released with a scheduled immigration court hearing for April 2028....