The US government has leased a prison in El Salvador, a Central American country, for $6 million a year to detain 238 Venezuelan immigrants, sparking ongoing controversy. The Christian Science Monitor reported that the agreement for renting Salvadoran prisons by the United States has not been made public, and the legality of the entire arrangement is still unclear. The Salvadoran government has not explained which law allows it to detain individuals who have not been criminally charged in the country. Domestic media in El Salvador are also concerned that this arrangement may trigger international litigation. According to the Miami Herald on the 18th, the White House claimed that the Venezuelans who were expelled were "gang members," but government officials admitted in the latest court documents that "many of them" did not have a criminal record in the United States, and the government argued that this was because they "stayed in the United States for a relatively short period of time. In addition, the controversy surrounding the specific departure time of the expulsion flight and whether the US government openly disregards the court injunction may trigger a constitutional crisis, according to The New York Times.
The price is very cost-effective
The White House announced on the 15th that President Trump had signed an executive order the day before, citing the Foreign Enemy Act of 1798, approving the accelerated expulsion of members of the Venezuelan gang "Aragua Train" from the United States. Later that day, US Federal Court Judge Bosberg issued a temporary injunction to prevent the government from taking action, but the deportation flight still took off. On the 16th, the Salvadoran government confirmed that 238 members of the "Aragua Train" deported by the US government had arrived in the country that morning, along with 23 members of the "Savage Salvadorans" organization who were also escorted. The Washington Post reported on the 18th that White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt confirmed that the US government paid $6 million to the Salvadoran government to detain these gang members. She also said, "What I want to point out is that compared to the cost of living for these people in the United States and imprisoning them in the highest level prisons in the country, this price is very cost-effective." The New York Post stated that the price of $6 million is equivalent to approximately $25000 per prisoner, which is 43% lower than the average cost of prisons in the United States.
The United States has paid them very low fees, but for us it is a large sum of money, "Salvadoran President Boukel posted on social platform X on the 16th. He stated that these individuals will be detained in El Salvador's Counter Terrorism Detention Center (CECOT) for a period of one year, and their contracts with the United States can be renewed. Bukel also released a video showing Salvadoran police taking these people away from the airport, handcuffing and shackled them, and escorting them to CECOT.
The Washington Post reported that CECOT is an independent large prison in the town of Tecoluca, El Salvador, which has held at least 60000 people. The report quoted several experts from human rights organizations as saying that El Salvador's prison system, especially CECOT, is "one of the most opaque prison systems in the Western Hemisphere," and the video released by Bouckel itself shows clear signs of human rights violations. The Times of India reported on the 19th that, CECOT Notorious for its harsh conditions, the prisoners here are detained for 23.5 hours a day, with only 30 minutes to exercise, read, and participate in online court proceedings; Prisoners cannot receive visits, and there are no prison factories to help them prepare for their reintegration into society.
Lack of legal basis
The arrangement of renting prisons in El Salvador by the United States has not only sparked controversy in the United States, but Salvadoran media and legal professionals have also questioned that this policy of renting prisons not only lacks legal basis, but may also face international litigation issues in the future.
According to the analysis of lawyer Anaya cited by the Salvadoran media Today, these "gang members" who were expelled from the United States, regardless of their nationality, were neither prosecuted for crimes in El Salvador nor sentenced by Salvadoran courts before being imprisoned in Salvadoran prisons. Not only did they have no legal basis, but the agreement between the United States and El Salvador to rent prisons was also full of loopholes. Anaya questioned whether these "gang members" sent to Salvadoran prisons should be tried by American judges or Salvadoran judges in the future? Which country's judicial system supervises whether they serve their sentences? He believes that this arrangement does not comply with legal procedures and will lead to legal disputes from all over the world in the future. The Venezuelan government also protested against this. On the 16th, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Hill issued a government statement strongly condemning the United States for using the Foreign Enemy Act to treat Venezuelan immigrants as enemies. The statement stated that the US government's claim shamelessly and unfairly treats Venezuelan immigrants as criminals, which not only violates current US laws but also violates the entire international legal system regarding human rights and immigration rights. Officials have vowed to rescue immigrants who have been expelled by the United States. According to Agence France Presse, hundreds of Venezuelans marched in the capital Caracas on the 18th, demanding the release of 238 compatriots sent to Salvadoran prisons by the United States. Many participants in the parade stated that their families have no criminal record in the United States and do not belong to any gangs, yet they were sent to prison in El Salvador by the US government.
No criminal record
What are the identities of these deported Venezuelans? The US government has not provided any detailed documents. Recently, many media outlets, including the Associated Press, have cited statements from the families and lawyers of the individuals involved, stating that their clients are not members of the "Aragua Train" gang and that American agents appear to rely on "tattoos" to apprehend them. On the 17th, US officials admitted in a court document that many of the individuals involved have no criminal record in the United States, but "having no criminal record does not mean that the threat they pose is limited" and "everyone is a suspected gang member".
The New York Times reported that the expulsion operation has sparked a lot of controversy: the judge believes that the government has no right to invoke the wartime law, the Foreign Enemy Act, to bypass normal procedures for expelling immigrants; The government openly disregarded the court's ban and expelled the flight, which did not leave the United States at the time but did not turn back; Trump also called for the impeachment of Judge Bosberg, who issued the ban, calling him a 'radical left-wing lunatic'. According to the principles established by the US Constitution, the government should obey court rulings. Bosberg requested the government to provide a detailed schedule of flight departures.
Legal scholars say that this country has reached a critical point, and the right question is not whether there is a crisis in the United States, but how much damage it will cause, "said The New York Times.
(Editer：admin)
