US Administration ‘Complicit in Torture’ of Deported Venezuelans: New Report
London-UK, November 13, 2025
Deported Venezuelans Sent by Trump to El Salvador Endured Systematic Torture, New Report Finds
A damning new report has revealed that over 250 Venezuelans who were sent by Trump’s administration to El Salvador endured systematic torture and abuse, including sexual violence, in the country’s notorious mega-prison.
The 81-page investigation, titled “’You Have Arrived in Hell,’” compiled by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal, paints a harrowing picture of constant physical and psychological abuse suffered by the deportees at the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT).
The report explicitly concludes that the Trump administration is complicit in the systematic torture, enforced disappearance, and grave violations of international human rights law by transferring the Venezuelans to a nation with known, credible risks of mistreatment, paying El Salvador nearly $5 million for the detentions.
Headline Points: The Findings of the Joint Human Rights Report
Systematic Abuse and Torture:
The report found that the Venezuelans were subjected to systematic torture, including near-daily severe beatings, psychological abuse, and, in some cases, sexual violence, which were not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated practice.
The Detention Facility:
The abuse occurred at El Salvador’s maximum-security CECOT mega-prison, a facility known for severe human rights concerns under President Nayib Bukele’s anti-gang crackdown.
Arbitrary Detention:
The 252 Venezuelan deportees were held arbitrarily and often incommunicado for approximately four months, with no access to lawyers or their families, which the human rights groups classify as enforced disappearance under international law.
US Complicity:
HRW’s Americas Director stated that the Trump administration is complicit in the torture and enforced disappearances, arguing that the US government was aware of the risks and transferred the people anyway, violating the principle of non-refoulement (sending someone to a place where they face persecution or torture).
Detainee Profile:
Despite the Trump administration’s claims that the deportees were members of the Venezuelan organized crime gang Tren de Aragua, the report found that nearly 49% had no criminal history, and only 3.1% had been convicted in the US of a violent crime.
Legal Violation:
The US government used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport the Venezuelan nationals, a move that was subsequently challenged and ruled against by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The Harrowing Account of Systematic Abuse
The Human Rights Watch and Cristosal report is based on over 200 interviews, including detailed, first-hand accounts from 40 former detainees who spent months inside CECOT.
The testimony reveals that from the moment they arrived in El Salvador, the Venezuelans were treated not as deportees or migrants, but as hardened criminals in a state of exception.
The systematic torture included constant beatings with batons, kicks, and fists, often administered by masked guards—who identified themselves by nicknames like ‘Satán’ and ‘El Tigre’—for minor infractions like talking too loudly or asking for medical help.
The abuses, which were inflicted on a near-daily basis, were psychological as well as physical, designed to “subjugate, humiliate, and discipline detainees through the imposition of grave physical and psychological suffering.”
Three victims detailed accounts of sexual violence by the guards.
Beyond the physical abuse, the inhumane conditions constituted cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment: prolonged incommunicado detention, scarce and inadequate food, denial of basic hygiene and sanitation, and extremely limited access to healthcare.
The report asserts that the brutality and repeated nature of the abuses indicate that the guards acted on the belief that their superiors “either supported or, at the very least, tolerated their abusive acts.”
The US Government’s Alleged Complicity
The most politically damaging element of the report is the conclusion that the Trump administration is complicit in these violations.
In March and April 2025, the US government sent 252 Venezuelans, including dozens of asylum seekers fleeing the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro, to El Salvador, despite credible and widely known reports of severe human rights abuses within the Salvadoran prison system, particularly at CECOT.
The administration transferred these individuals under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which President Trump invoked by claiming the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was perpetrating an “invasion” against the US.
This highly controversial legal move and the payment of approximately $4.7 million to El Salvador to detain the deportees form the legal basis for the complicity finding. Human rights organizations argue the US violated the principle of non-refoulement, a cornerstone of international refugee law that prohibits sending individuals to a place where they are likely to face persecution or torture.
The report also reveals that US Department of Homeland Security agents allegedly lied to the Venezuelans about their destination and repeatedly denied their requests to contact lawyers or family members, contributing to the condition of enforced disappearance.
This legal and moral accusation places intense pressure on US authorities to respond to the evidence of systematic torture that occurred at the direct request and expense of the US government.
The political and legal fallout is expected to be significant, leading to further inquiries into the use of the 1798 Act and demands for accountability for the US officials involved in planning and executing the deportations of Venezuelans sent by Trump to El Salvador.
