WASHINGTON, D.C., July 19, 2025 — After 125 days imprisoned in El Salvador’s infamous “mega-prison,” the Terrorism Confinement Middle (CECOT), Venezuelan nationals Edicson Quintero Chacón and Jose Manuel Ramos Bastidas have been launched yesterday and positioned on a U.S.-brokered flight to Venezuela, alongside roughly 250 different Venezuelans whom the USA paid to detain at CECOT. Counsel for each males expressed profound aid at their launch and emphasised the pressing want for accountability from the U.S. authorities for disappearing them to CECOT within the first place.
The U.S. authorities despatched the lads to CECOT on March 15, 2025, the place they have been held incommunicado and with out fees in a facility broadly condemned for mass arbitrary detention and inhumane therapy. Each Mr. Quintero and Mr. Bastidas had beforehand been ordered faraway from the USA, after which they instructed a federal court docket that they only needed to return house to Venezuela. The U.S. authorities despatched them to CECOT as an alternative. The phrases of the settlement with El Salvador specify that the U.S. would ship “members” of a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), however there is no such thing as a proof linking the lads to TdA. Their return to Venezuela was a part of a prisoner swap deal that included the discharge from Venezuela of U.S. residents and lawful everlasting residents.
“This information of flights to Venezuela was like being hit with a bucket of chilly water as a result of my household had completely no thought this was taking place,” mentioned a member of Mr. Quintero Chacón’s household, who requested to stay nameless. “Edicson ought to by no means have been despatched to CECOT within the first place. Nobody ought to. He was handled cruelly and inhumanely when all he needed was security. This so-called prisoner swap doesn’t undo the injustice he suffered, nor the ache and terror that my household has needed to endure previously a number of months with no thought of whether or not we’d ever see him once more.”
“We’ve got been ready for this second for months, and I really feel like I can lastly breathe, realizing that Jose Manuel is now free from CECOT and on his approach house,” mentioned Roynerliz Rodriguez, companion of Jose Manuel Ramos Bastidas. “His son, whom he hasn’t seen since he was 4 months previous, is eagerly ready for him. These final months have been a dwelling nightmare, not realizing something about Jose Manuel and solely imagining what he should be struggling. I’m comfortable he’s free from CECOT, however I additionally know that we are going to by no means be freed from the shadow of this expertise. There should be justice for all those that suffered this torture.”
Severe issues stay relating to the legality and transparency of the U.S. authorities’s actions. Lots of the people despatched to CECOT by the U.S. authorities had pending asylum claims and expressed credible worry of return to Venezuela. Their compelled return to Venezuela, with out due course of to deal with their requests for asylum in the USA, raises important questions on the USA’ compliance with home and worldwide authorized obligations.
Nor has there been any public accounting of how the U.S. authorities chosen people for switch to CECOT or the total scope of situations they endured. Thus far, the U.S. authorities has not launched a whole record of names of the folks they paid El Salvador to detain, and it stays unclear whether or not every sufferer is accounted for.
Using international detention amenities, significantly these with documented information of systemic abuse, raises severe human rights and due course of issues. The U.S. authorities shouldn’t interact in detention outsourcing preparations and shouldn’t collaborate with regimes that flagrantly violate human rights. There should be a full investigation into these disappearances and clear safeguards barring the Trump administration from doing this once more.
“We’re deeply relieved that Mr. Quintero Chacón and Mr. Ramos Bastidas are lastly launched from CECOT, however this could by no means have occurred within the first place,” mentioned Rebecca Cassler, senior litigation lawyer on the American Immigration Council. “The U.S. authorities paid to detain these males in one of many world’s most infamous prisons, then denied accountability whereas they suffered. For months, the Trump administration misled the courts and the general public, pretending it had no management over their destiny. This deal proves in any other case. There should be a full investigation into how this occurred, and accountability for the grave hurt inflicted on these males.”
“We have fun this information, together with the family members of Mr. Quintero Chacón and Mr. Ramos Bastidas and over 250 Venezuelans who returned to Venezuela yesterday after being disappeared and tortured for months on the path and expense of the USA authorities. The ‘offers’ made for these Venezuelans’ confinement and transfers between the USA, El Salvador, and Venezuela deal with human beings as bargaining chips and underscore the merciless penalties of criminalizing migration and monetizing torture. The U.S. authorities should cease these abuses and uphold its obligations to guard the rights and dignity of all folks,” mentioned CJ Sandley, senior employees lawyer on the Middle for Constitutional Rights.
“It’s with nice pleasure and aid that we have fun Mr. Quintero Chacón’s and Mr. Ramos Bastidas’ secure return to Venezuela and long-overdue reunion with their family members. It’s unconscionable that they and 250 different Venezuelan males have been despatched by the USA to be detained at CECOT and compelled to endure struggling, the extent of which we nonetheless don’t totally know. The administration has tried to scrub its palms of the people they despatched to be tortured, however their launch in the present day reveals simply how concerned the federal government has been all through this complete course of,” mentioned Stephanie M. Alvarez-Jones, Southeast Regional Lawyer on the Nationwide Immigration Undertaking. “Whereas we have fun their lengthy overdue launch, the federal government should be held accountable for its outrageous actions.”
The American Immigration Council, Middle for Constitutional Rights, and the Nationwide Immigration Undertaking characterize Mr. Quintero Chacón in his habeas corpus continuing within the U.S. District Court docket for the Center District of Georgia, the place they’ve been preventing for his freedom from CECOT. Nationwide Immigration Undertaking represents Mr. Ramos Bastidas in his habeas corpus continuing, which can also be earlier than the U.S. District Court docket for the Center District of Georgia.
For extra data, contact:
Elyssa Pachico on the American Immigration Council, [email protected] 503 850 8407
Arianna Rosales, Nationwide Immigration Undertaking, [email protected]
Jen Nessel, Middle for Constitutional Rights, [email protected]
In regards to the American Immigration Council
The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts in direction of immigrants and immigration and by working towards a extra truthful and simply immigration system that opens its doorways to these in want of safety and unleashes the power and expertise that immigrants carry. The Council brings collectively downside solvers and employs 4 coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, analysis, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. In January 2022, the Council and New American Financial system merged to mix a broad suite of advocacy instruments to raised develop and shield the rights of immigrants, extra totally guarantee immigrants’ capability to succeed economically, and assist make the communities they settle in additional welcoming. Observe the newest Council information and data on BlueSky @immcouncil.org and Instagram at @immcouncil.
In regards to the Nationwide Immigration Undertaking: The Nationwide Immigration Undertaking is a membership group of attorneys, advocates, and neighborhood members who imagine that each one folks ought to be handled with dignity, dwell freely, and flourish. We litigate, advocate, educate, and construct bridges throughout actions to make sure that these most impacted by the immigration and legal programs are uplifted and supported. Study extra at nipnlg.org. Observe the Nationwide Immigration Undertaking on Bluesky, Fb, Twitter/X, and Instagram at @NIPNLG.
In regards to the Middle for Constitutional Rights: The Middle for Constitutional Rights works with communities below risk to struggle for justice and liberation by way of litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Middle for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive programs of energy, together with structural racism, gender oppression, financial inequity, and governmental overreach. Observe the Middle for Constitutional Rights on Fb, @theCCR on Twitter/X, and @ccrjustice on Instagram, and @ccrjustice.org on BlueSky.
