The Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), is a new prison in El Salvador, which houses the country’s most dangerous gang members. The prison is a part of El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s new anti-gang policy that is working to rid the country of gang violence.
While this initiative has worked, making El Salvador safer, it is shrouded in controversy. The issue arose when Bukele began offering to house U.S. deportees that were criminals or gang members. Despite the intention being to take gang members and violent criminals, U.S. President Donald Trump is now sending innocent deportees as well. These people are now living with, and being treated like, gang members who have actually committed terrible crimes, despite having no evidence to support that they are criminals themselves. This action by the Trump Administration is in direct opposition to the fundamentals of democracy and the constitution, and must be addressed.
The Trump administration sent 238 Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, with most of them having no criminal charges in the U.S. or their home country. While the U.S. government claimed they were all gang members and violent terrorists, there was no evidence to back up these claims. Regardless, these migrants now find themselves mixed in with some of the world’s most dangerous gang members, with no guaranteed release date. The idea that the government can send people to these prisons with no evidence or due process is a deeply concerning issue, and sets a dangerous precedent for the future of deportation policies.
Trump has also seemingly made efforts to transport migrants to CECOT as soon as possible, rushing his agenda and thus leading to dire, unintended consequences. One such consequence was an “administrative error” that sent Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father of three children who was in the U.S. legally and had no criminal record, to CECOT. His case even went to the Supreme Court, where Justices ruled that Garcia must be returned home. Trump and his administration have not only employed these unjust tactics, they’ve also gone about executing them in a thoughtless, destructive manner that makes a mockery of the U.S. government.
Furthermore, now that Garcia is in custody, the Trump administration has taken a position of inaction, as they believe they should not do anything to bring him home. The brunt of the situation has fallen on Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who is actively working to give Garcia due process. Trump’s administration is responsible for sending Garcia there, and the Supreme Court ruling deems they are responsible for bringing him home.
What makes the CECOT situation so complicated, however, is that the El Salvadoran intentions regarding CECOT are positive, with the main goal to simply make El Salvador’s streets safer. As of now, the prison has worked. El Salvador closed out 2024 with just 1.9 homicides per 100,000 people, an extremely low figure compared to 2015 when they recorded 103 homicides per 100,000 people. It is undeniable that El Salvador has been made safer as a result of CECOT and Bukele’s anti-gang policies, but the methods El Salvador has used inside the prisons are unethical and harmful.
The harsh conditions at CECOT have led to criticism from human rights groups, who believe that despite their crimes, the prisoners deserve basic rights. These conditions include the prisoners being beaten often, tortured and denied food or water, all of which has already led to the death of at least 368 inmates. While it cannot be argued that the prisoners in CECOT who actually committed brutal, gang related crimes definitely do deserve to be imprisoned, it’s unethical to deny them human rights. Additionally, CECOT is no place for U.S. deportees with no evidence of any crimes committed. The idea that a person like Garcia could be taken by the U.S. government and sent to a prison like CECOT in a matter of days with no due process is something that cannot happen in a functional democracy.
While the immense increase in safety as a result of CECOT and the gang crackdowns has improved the standard of living in El Salvador, it has come at the expense of human rights violations taking place at CECOT. This whole situation has been escalated by the Trump administration, as the use of CECOT to house innocent deportees who have no criminal history is unjust and immoral.
