A group of Venezuelan men once held inside El Salvador’s high-security CECOT prison is now pressing for something they say was denied to them from the start: a chance to be heard in a U.S. court.
Speaking from Caracas, former detainees said they want Washington to follow through on a recent judicial order that would allow them to challenge their removal from the United States. The ruling holds that their deportation bypassed basic procedural safeguards and that they are entitled to contest it before an American judge.
Under the order, U.S. authorities have been given two weeks to outline how hundreds of Venezuelans sent to El Salvador will be brought back so their cases can be heard. The men say that timeline must be honored.
“The ruling makes it clear that we have the right to a fair hearing under U.S. law,” said Ysqueibel Peñaloza, speaking on behalf of about 252 former prisoners. He urged both the United States and El Salvador to comply fully and to ensure conditions that would allow the men to participate meaningfully in the process. Peñaloza also appealed for national and international support, without detailing what form that assistance should take.
The deportations trace back to March, when U.S. authorities relied on the Alien Enemy Act of 1798—a rarely used statute—to swiftly remove people labeled as members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group. The measure allowed removals without hearings or standard immigration procedures.
Families and advocates have disputed the gang allegations, saying many of the men had no such ties and that relatives were often left unsure where detainees had been taken. The episode sparked widespread criticism from rights groups and triggered an intense legal clash over the limits of executive power in deportation cases.
Now, after months behind the walls of one of the region’s most notorious prisons, the men say the fight has shifted. Their demand is no longer about where they are held—but whether the law will finally hear them.
