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(WASHINGTON) – Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, sent a letter to Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio renewing their demand to see the agreement the Administration struck with El Salvador to imprison noncitizens from the U.S., after court filings indicated the Administration misled federal judges, Congress, and the public about the legal status of individuals they removed to a notorious mega-prison.
“Court filings last week suggest the Administration misled federal judges, Congress, and the American people about the legal status of individuals the U.S. government has spirited away to El Salvador and who are being held in torture prisons like Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT). In light of this, we write to reiterate our request for documents related to the United States agreement with El Salvador to imprison noncitizens,” wrote the Ranking Members.
In March 2025, the Trump Administration removed approximately 288 individuals from the U.S. to the CECOT and other detention centers in El Salvador. Amid these removals, Chief Judge Boasberg of the District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order preventing further deportations and ordered that any planes in the air at the time of the ruling be turned around. The Trump Administration failed to comply with the order, and has since held that they have no authority to bring these individuals back from El Salvador since they are no longer in U.S. custody.
However, documents filed in court last week suggest that the government of El Salvador reported to the United Nations that individuals imprisoned in El Salvador at the request of the U.S. remain in the legal custody and control of the U.S. government. This revelation indicates that the Departments of Justice and State have misled federal courts regarding its agreement with El Salvador.
In addition, an investigation by The New York Times found that the U.S. government not only paid El Salvador millions of dollars as part of the agreement, but also included the return to El Salvador of top leaders in MS-13, some of whom allegedly had knowledge of the corrupt bargain between Salvadoran Dictator Nayib Bukele and MS-13 that has played a significant role in the decrease in gang violence in El Salvador.
The Ranking Members demanded the Administration provide any and all agreements between the U.S. and El Salvador pertaining to the detention of individuals from the U.S.; the number of individuals with withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture who have been removed to El Salvador since the start of the Trump Administration; and a briefing regarding how immigrants are screened for protection claims prior to being removed or transferred out of the U.S.
“Congress has the right and the obligation to conduct oversight over the executive branch and determine what deals our government has struck with a foreign dictator to imprison individuals seized in the United States in an effort to place them beyond the reaches of our courts,” concluded the Ranking Members.
Today’s letter is the latest push by the Ranking Members for information regarding the removal of immigrants to the Salvadoran torture prison. In April, Ranking Members Raskin, Thompson, and then-Oversight Ranking Member Connolly first pressed the Administration for the contract they crafted with El Salvador. That same month, Ranking Member Meeks and Rep. Joaquin Castro addressed a letter to Secretary Rubio also demanding details on the deal Rubio announced with El Salvador.
Link to letter
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