First to ABC: High-ranking Democrats press Trump administration on US deal with El Salvador to detain migrants

Source: ABC News

July 18, 2025, 5:02 AM


Recent court filings suggest the Trump administration "misled federal judges, Congress, and the American people" about a deal between the U.S. and El Salvador to detain over 200 Venezuelan migrants at the notorious mega-prison known as CECOT, four Democratic ranking members of House committees said in a letter.

The letter, reviewed by ABC News, was sent Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and calls on officials to turn over any and all agreements between the U.S. and El Salvador, which have not been made public. The letter cites court filings that appear to contradict the administration’s contention that migrants sent to the prison are solely under the jurisdiction of the government of El Salvador.

According to those filings, submitted July 7 in a case challenging the removal of Venezuelan migrants from the U.S., the government of El Salvador told a United Nations working group that the men in CECOT deported from the U.S. remain the “legal responsibility” of the United States.

"In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters," El Salvador officials said in a report to the U.N. In their letter, the ranking members said the filing “indicates that the Department of Justice has misled federal courts in assertions regarding the agreement with El Salvador.”

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