Caracas, Venezuela – Men who were part of a group Venezuelan Migrants transferred by the U.S. government earlier this year to a prison in El Salvador demanded justice on Friday, days after a federal judge in Washington ruled. It ruled that the Trump administration must give them due process.
The men told reporters in the Venezuelan capital that they hope legal organizations will be able to take their cases to court. Their press conference was organized by the Venezuelan government, which has previously said it has reserved legal services for migrants.
On Monday, a federal judge ordered the US government to give the 252 Venezuelan men due process, either by providing court hearings or returning them to the United States. The ruling opens a path for the men to challenge the Trump administration’s claims that they are members of the Tren de Aragua gang and subject to deportation under the 18th century law of war.
Men have said it over and over again They were subjected to physical and psychological torture While in the notorious Salvadoran prison.
“Today, we are here to demand justice before the world for the human rights violations committed against each of us, and to ask for help from international organizations to help us defend us so that our human rights are respected and not violated again,” Andre Blanco told reporters in Caracas, where about two dozen migrants gathered on Friday.
Some of the men shared the daily struggles they now face — including fear of leaving their homes or encountering law enforcement — as a result of what they said were brutal abuses while in prison. The men did not specify what justice would look like in their case, but not all of them are interested in returning to the United States
Nolberto Aguilar said of the US government: “I don’t trust them.”
The men were flown to El Salvador in March. She was Send them to their home country In July as part of a prisoner exchange between the Trump administration and the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Camila Fabbri, Venezuela’s deputy foreign minister for international communications, said Maduro’s government is working with the US Bar Association and “all human rights organizations to prepare a major lawsuit against Trump and the US government, so that they truly acknowledge all the crimes they committed against” the men.