A Venezuelan man deported from the US has issued a grievance in opposition to the administration of President Donald Trump, saying he was wrongfully despatched to a Salvadoran jail the place he suffered beatings and different types of abuse.
Thursday’s grievance is the primary of its variety from one of many greater than 250 Venezuelan males despatched in March to the Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), a maximum-security jail in El Salvador recognized for human rights abuses.
In submitting a grievance in opposition to the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), 27-year-old barber Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel has taken a primary step in direction of suing the Trump administration.
He and his attorneys from the Democracy Defenders Fund are searching for $1.3m in damages for alleged abuse.
Rengel claims the Trump administration falsely accused him of being a gang member as a way to circumvent his proper to due course of and swiftly deport him.
“For greater than 4 months, Rengel languished in El Salvador – which isn’t his nation of origin and a spot the place he has no ties – the place he suffered bodily, verbal and psychological abuse,” the grievance stated.
President Trump campaigned for a second time period on the promise that he would implement a coverage of mass deportation, and in March, the Republican chief invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify the fast expulsions of alleged gang members.
That regulation, nonetheless, had been invoked solely 3 times prior in US historical past – and solely throughout occasions of battle.
Critics accused Trump of overstepping his constitutional authority by leveraging the regulation to advance his home platform, whereas trampling on the rights of immigrants. Trump, nonetheless, argued that the regulation was essential to stem what he described as an “invasion” of criminals into the US.
Rengel was arrested on March 13 as a part of that deportation sweep below the Alien Enemies Act.
In response to his grievance, immigration brokers nabbed him within the automobile park outdoors his house in Irving, Texas, and accused him of being a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua based mostly on his tattoos.
Rengel was within the strategy of searching for authorized standing. He had entered the US in June 2023 after efficiently receiving an appointment via the CBP One app, which was, on the time, the official portal for asylum claims and different immigration processing on the US-Mexico border.
He had an appointment earlier than an immigration decide scheduled for 2028.
However in keeping with his grievance, his life was upended when he was arrested and despatched to an immigration detention facility. There, he stated, members of the DHS falsely indicated he can be returned to his native Venezuela.
As a substitute, he was positioned on a deportation flight to El Salvador.
Cameras filmed the 250-plus Venezuelan males being disembarked and bussed to the CECOT jail, the place their heads had been shaved they usually had been pressured to march, handcuffed and heads bowed, into cells. The ability is designed to carry as much as 40,000 individuals.
The Trump administration reportedly paid almost $6m to El Salvador to imprison the deported males.
As soon as contained in the CECOT jail, Rengel alleges that he was struck with overwhelmed – generally with batons, generally with naked fists – together with a minimum of one event the place he was moved to an space the place the jail had no cameras.
Earlier this month, Rengel was a part of a prisoner exchange that noticed the entire deported Venezuelan males launched from CECOT and despatched again to their house nation, in alternate for the liberty of alleged political detainees and 10 People imprisoned in Venezuela.
Rengel has since remained along with his mom, “terrified” of the prospect of returning to the US, in keeping with his attorneys.
His grievance was made in compliance with the Federal Tort Claims Act, which units a pathway for lawsuits in opposition to the federal authorities. It offers the federal government a most of six months to reply to the allegations earlier than a swimsuit might be filed.
Already, the Trump administration launched a press release signalling it plans to battle Rengel’s claims. It doubled down on its accusation that Rengel was a gang member.
“President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem is not going to enable international terrorist enemies to function in our nation and endanger People,” the Division of Homeland Safety instructed The Related Press information company.
“We hear far an excessive amount of about gang members and criminals’ false sob tales and never sufficient about their victims.”
The Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to expedite deportations has been the topic of quite a few authorized challenges.
US District Courtroom Decide James Boasberg had ordered the deportation flights in March to return to the US and has since indicated that the Trump administration could also be in contempt of court for failing to take action.
In June, Boasberg further ruled that the deported Venezuelan males have to be given the chance to problem their removals in US courts.
His resolution indicated that there was “important proof” that most of the males had been languishing “in a international jail on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations”.
