SAN SALVADOR: The US government used an 18th-century wartime law to deport more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, where they were immediately transferred to the country’s maximum-security gang prison.
And while a federal judge in Washington tries to determine whether the US government defied his order to return the migrants while they were in the air and insists that they must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged members of a notorious gang, there has been no word from El Salvador’s president or judiciary about what the prisoners’ legal status is in that country.
That may change soon. On Monday, lawyers hired by the Venezuelan government took legal action on behalf of the Venezuelan prisoners seeking their release from the prison, which US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is scheduled to visit Wednesday.
The US says the Venezuelans were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, a criminal organization that US President Donald Trump declared an invading force, but has provided no evidence of their alleged membership. The Alien Enemies Act allows noncitizens to be deported without the opportunity to go before an immigration or federal court judge.
El Salvador hasn’t had diplomatic relations with Venezuela since 2019, so the Venezuelans imprisoned there do not have any consular support from their government either.
Even Salvadoran citizens have been living under a state of emergency that has suspended fundamental rights since 2022 and the country’s judiciary is not considered independent. All of which raises questions about the prisoners’ legal future in El Salvador.
What has El Salvador’s government said about the prisoners’ status in the country?
Nothing.
President Nayib Bukele announced Sunday that the United States had sent what he called “238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua” to El Salvador and they were immediately sent to its maximum security gang prison. The US government would pay an annual fee for their incarceration, Bukele wrote in a post on X.
El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office and Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights and Freedom of Expression did not respond to requests for comment about the status of the Venezuelan prisoners.
What do El Salvador’s laws say about the status of these prisoners?
Lawyer David Morales, legal director for the nongovernmental organization Cristosal, said there was no legal basis for the Venezuelans’ imprisonment in El Salvador. He said he knew of no Salvadoran law or international treaty that would support their imprisonment.
“They are illegal detentions because they haven’t been submitted to the jurisdiction of a Salvadoran judge, nor have they been prosecuted or convicted in El Salvador,” he said. As such, their imprisonment here is “arbitrary.”
He said El Salvador’s prosecutor’s office for human rights would have the authority to intervene, because it has a broad mandate when it comes to prisoners, “but we already know that it’s not playing its role because it is dominated, subjected to political power.”
What are lawyers doing?
Lawyers hired by the Venezuelan government filed a legal action Monday in El Salvador aimed at freeing 238 Venezuelans deported by the United States who are being held in a Salvadoran maximum-security prison.
Jaime Ortega, who says he represents 30 of the imprisoned Venezuelans, said his firm filed the habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber. He said that by extension they requested that it be applied to all Venezuelans detained in El Salvador.
Before it was filed, constitutional lawyer Enrique Anaya had suggested human rights organizations and the prisoners’ families should file habeas corpus petitions, essentially compelling the government to prove someone’s detention was justified “as a mechanism to denounce (the situation) as well as to pressure” the government.
Still, Anaya said the lack of judicial independence in El Salvador made success unlikely. Bukele’s party removed the justices of the Supreme Court’s Constitutional chamber in 2021 and replaced them with judges seen as more amenable to the administration.
“Who is going to decide these people’s freedom, US judges, Salvadoran judges?” Anaya asked. The habeas corpus petitions could at least “show the illegitimacy of this vacuum.”
How hard is it for Salvadorans to get out of prisons there?
El Salvador has lived under a state of emergency since March 2022, when Congress granted Bukele extraordinary powers to fight the country’s powerful street gangs.
Since then, some 84,000 people have been arrested, accused of gang ties. The state of emergency has allowed authorities to act without basic protections like access to a lawyer or even being told why they’re being arrested. They can be held for 15 days without seeing a judge.
Homicides have plummeted in El Salvador and the improved security has fueled Bukele’s popularity.
But while Bukele has said some 8,000 of those arrested have been freed for lack of evidence, many more have found no way out.
Last year, the Due Process Foundation published a report showing that the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court had “systematically” rejected more than 6,000 habeas corpus petitions made by families of people arrested under the state of emergency.
Venezuelan migrants deported by the US ended up in a Salvadoran prison. This is their legal status
https://arab.news/4jgdd
Venezuelan migrants deported by the US ended up in a Salvadoran prison. This is their legal status
- El Salvador hasn’t had diplomatic relations with Venezuela since 2019
- So the Venezuelans imprisoned there do not have any consular support from their government either
Kenyan UN peacekeeper missing in Haiti following gang attack
- Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed
- Gang violence has left more than one million people homeless in the Caribbean country
The Kenyan officers were on their way Tuesday to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” according to the mission’s statement, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer.
Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media.
Gang violence has left more than one million people homeless in the Caribbean country in recent years, according to the UN, with many crowding into makeshift and unsanitary shelters after gunmen razed their homes.
The Kenya-led force was launched last year and tasked with fighting gangs trying to seize full control of Haiti’s capital. Kenya had promised to send 1,000 officers to Haiti. Since June, 800 have been deployed.
Another Kenyan officer who was shot and killed by the gangs in Haiti in February was buried in Kenya last week. Opposition leaders in the east African country called for the mission’s officers to be better equipped.
The mission has been struggling with a lack of personnel as gangs that control 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, keep seizing more territory. The force’s funding has also been dealt a blow after the US, its biggest backer, froze some of its funding, part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign assistance.
South Korea says 19 dead in raging wildfires
- More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast
- The blazes forced around 27,000 residents to urgently evacuate
ANDONG, South Korea: At least 19 people have been killed in one of South Korea’s worst wildfire outbreaks, with multiple raging blazes causing “unprecedented damage,” the acting president said Wednesday.
More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast, forcing around 27,000 people to urgently evacuate, with the fire cutting off roads and downing communications lines as residents fled in panic.
Overnight into Wednesday, the death toll jumped to 19 as wind-driven flames tore through neighborhoods and razed an ancient temple.
Eighteen people were killed in the wildfires and a pilot in a firefighting helicopter died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain area, officials said.
According to the interior ministry, the wildfires have charred 17,398 hectares (42,991 acres), with the blaze in Uiseong county alone accounting for 87 percent of the total.
The government has raised the crisis alert to its highest level and taken the rare step of transferring thousands of inmates out of prisons in the area.
“Wildfires burning for a fifth consecutive day... are causing unprecedented damage,” South Korea’s acting president Han Duck-soo said.
He told an emergency safety and disaster meeting that the blazes were “developing in a way that is exceeding both existing prediction models and earlier expectations.”
“Throughout the night, chaos continued as power and communication lines were cut in several areas and roads were blocked,” he added.
In the city of Andong, some evacuees sheltering in an elementary school gym said they had to flee so quickly they could bring nothing with them.
“The wind was so strong,” Kwon So-han, a 79-year-old resident in Andong said, adding that as soon as he got the evacuation order he fled.
“The fire came from the mountain and fell on my house,” he said.
“Those who haven’t experienced it won’t know. I could only bring my body.”
Authorities had been using helicopters to battle the blazes, but suspended all such operations after a helicopter crashed Wednesday, killing the pilot on board.
Authorities said changing wind patterns and dry weather had revealed the limitations of conventional firefighting methods.
Thousands of firefighters have been deployed, but “strong winds reaching speeds of 25 meters per second persisted from yesterday afternoon through the night, forcing the suspension of helicopter and drone operations,” acting president Han said.
The fires are “the most devastating” yet in South Korea, Han said.
By Wednesday, one of the fires was threatening historic Hahoe Folk Village — a UNESCO-listed world heritage site popular with tourists but now under an emergency alert.
Huge plumes of smoke turned the sky over the village grey, with fire trucks and police cars lined up at the edges of the historic site.
Last year was South Korea’s hottest year on record, with the Korea Meteorological Administration saying that the average annual temperature was 14.5 degrees Celsius — two degrees higher than the preceding 30-year average of 12.5 degrees.
The fire-hit region had been experiencing unusually dry weather with below-average precipitation, authorities have said, with the South experiencing more than double the number of fires this year than last.
Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.
Other phenomena, such as forest fires, droughts, snowstorms and tropical storms can result from a combination of complex factors.
“We can’t say that it’s only due to climate change, but climate change is directly (and) indirectly affecting the changes we are experiencing now. This is a sheer fact,” Yeh Sang-Wook, professor of climatology at Seoul’s Hanyang University, said.
“Wildfires will become more frequent,” he added.
“Basically, as the atmosphere becomes warmer due to climate change, the water vapor in the ground evaporates more easily, so the amount of moisture contained in the ground decreases. So, all this creates the conditions wildfires can occur more frequently.”
The major fire in Uiseong was reportedly caused by a person tending to a family grave who accidentally ignited the blaze.
Apple farmer Cho Jae-oak said that he and his wife had sprayed water around their house all day in a desperate bid to protect it.
“We kept spraying and guarded. When the fire was burning on the mountain, fireballs flew here,” he said, adding that the encroaching flames eventually forced them to leave.
America’s allies alarmed by a leaked group chat about attack plans
- The European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, suggested the security breach could make allies question the reliability of the US as a partner
LONDON: As wake-up calls go, the alarms don’t get much louder.
Allies of the United States see the group chat between top US officials about a planned attack in Yemen that accidentally included a journalist as a jaw-dropping security breach which casts doubt on intelligence-sharing with Washington and the security of joint military operations.
“Scary” and “reckless” was the verdict of one European diplomat about the discussion on the Signal messaging app about strikes on Houthi rebels. Neil Melvin, a security expert at defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute, called it “pretty shocking.”
“It’s some of the most high-ranking US officials seeming to display a complete disregard for the normal security protocols,” he said.
Beyond the security concerns raised by the leaked chat, US officials addressed the country’s trans-Atlantic allies with disdain as Vice President JD Vance complained about “bailing out” Europe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed “pathetic” European “freeloading.”
The criticism is another blow to a long-standing relationship already strained by President Donald Trump’s blunt “America First” approach and disregard for friendly nations.
Melvin said that for America’s allies, “the alarm clock’s been ringing for a long time.”
In public, however, European officials insisted all was well in the trans-Atlantic relationship.
“We have a very close relationship with the US on matters of security, defense and intelligence,” said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares. “They are our closest ally when it comes to these matters, have been for many years and will be for many years to come.”
France’s Foreign Ministry said “the United States is our ally, and France intends to continue its cooperation with Washington, as well as with all its allies and European partners, in order to address current challenges — particularly in the area of European security.”
A growing divide
Since taking office, the Trump administration has halted government funding for programs that support democratic principles around the world and presented a less welcoming face to visitors.
US embassies in at least 17 countries have posted warnings for would-be travelers that engaging in behavior deemed harmful by the government could get them deported. Several European countries have issued warnings about visiting the United States after international tourists were caught up in Trump’s border crackdown.
Trump has appalled allies with his repeatedly stated aim of taking over Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory that Vance and second lady Usha Vance are due to visit this week — and his desire to make Canada the 51st state.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country has to “take greater ownership” of its own defense in the face of threats: “We have to look out for ourselves.”
Nathalie Loiseau, a member of the European parliament, told the BBC that she was “flabbergasted” by the breach.
“If I was (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, I would feel jobless. Russia has nothing more to do. … You don’t even need to spy on the US administration. They leak by themselves,” she said.
US reliability questioned
The European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, suggested the security breach could make allies question the reliability of the US as a partner.
The diplomat expressed hope that the Signal lapse was due to a lack of experience in government rather than a deliberate disregard for security.
Asked if he had concerns about sharing intelligence with the US after the Signal incident, Carney said “it’s a serious, serious issue and all lessons must be taken.” He said it would be important to see “how people react to those mistakes and how they tighten them up.”
Britain could be particularly exposed by US security breaches. Its intelligence network is entwined with the US in the Five Eyes alliance, and the countries’ militaries work more closely than those of almost any other nations.
Britain’s Royal Air Force provided air-to-air refueling for US planes during the strike on the Houthis, but UK Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard insisted British personnel had not been put at risk by the breach.
“We’ve got high confidence that the measures that we have got with our allies, including the United States, remain intact,” he told lawmakers.
Ed Davey, the leader of Britain’s opposition Liberal Democrats, said the lapse showed the Trump administration can’t be trusted to protect its own intelligence and “it could only be a matter of time until our own intelligence shared with them is also leaked.”
“This could put British lives at risk,” he said.
Alex Clarkson, a lecturer in European and international studies at King’s College London, said “the professionals and old hands” who “contained the damage” during Trump’s first term are largely gone.
“So what we’re having now is … a manifestation of tendencies that were held in check that we already saw in the first round,” he said.
American frustration
The US has underpinned European security since World War II, and Trump is not the first president to bristle at the burden.
“From the Obama administration (onward), there’s been quite some frustrations in the US security apparatus about the failure of the Europeans … to step up,” Melvin said.
Trump has gone much further than his predecessors in upending the decades-old security arrangements. He has long contended the US needs to completely rethink its relationship with the rest of the world, saying other countries have been “taking advantage” of the nation’s military might by not paying enough for their own defense.
Trump has praised autocrats including Putin and sent chills through NATO during last year’s election campaign with his comment that Russia should “do whatever the hell it wants” to members that don’t meet military spending targets.
“There’s a real sense of divorce, that America is not just disinterested in the trans-Atlantic alliance but views Europe fundamentally as an adversary,” said Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It’s very clear at this point, abundantly clear, that it will be next to impossible to count on the United States for the cause of defending democracy in the world,” said Kevin Casas-Zamora, secretary-general of the pro-democracy group International IDEA.
NATO leaders point out that Trump’s criticism and the war in Ukraine have led to a majority of member states meeting the target of spending at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
Trump’s reelection and rapprochement with Putin has hastened European military plans, with nations scrambling to ramp up weapons production and create their own security structures – including a UK- and France-led “coalition of the willing” to help guarantee a future ceasefire in Ukraine.
Clarkson said Europe has more strength than many give it credit for, and severing the trans-Atlantic bond would hurt the US, too.
“One shouldn’t underestimate European military industrial capacity,” he said. “There are all kinds of things that can go wrong … but there is an element here also that the Americans are awakening a sleeping giant.”
Judge rules pro-Palestinian student and permanent US resident cannot be detained
- Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas
WASHINGTON: A Korean American Columbia University student, who is a legal permanent US resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests, cannot be detained by federal immigration officials for now as she fights the administration of President Donald Trump over attempts to deport her, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
Yunseo Chung, 21, has lived in the US since she was seven, and sued the Trump administration on Monday to prevent her deportation. Her legal team was informed this month that her lawful permanent resident status was being revoked, according to court records in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters and accused them of supporting Hamas militants, of posing hurdles for US foreign policy and of being antisemitic.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas. Human rights advocates condemn the government’s moves.
The US Department of Homeland Security alleged Chung engaged in concerning conduct, including when she was previously arrested by police during a protest at Barnard College that DHS termed “pro-Hamas.”
Chung has not yet been arrested by federal officials. Immigration agents made multiple visits to her residences looking for her.
US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order against the government that prevents Chung from being detained, court records showed.
Actions against Chung form part of a pattern of government efforts against pro-Palestinian voices critical of Israel’s military assault on Gaza, her lawsuit said.
Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested this month and is legally challenging his detention, is also a lawful permanent resident. Trump, without evidence, accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, which Khalil denies.
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian studying at Georgetown University, was detained last week. A federal judge barred Suri’s deportation.
US officials have asked Cornell University student Momodou Taal to turn himself in, his attorneys say, adding his visa was being revoked.
Appeals court allows Trump administration to suspend approval of new refugees amid lawsuit
- Despite long-standing support from both major political parties for accepting thoroughly vetted refugees, the program has become politicized in recent years
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration can stop approving new refugees for entry into the US but has to allow in people who were conditionally accepted before the president suspended the nation’s refugee admissions system, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The order narrowed a ruling from a federal judge in Seattle who found the program should be restarted.
The three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the president has the power to restrict people from entering the country, pointing to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling upholding President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries during his first term.
Refugees who were conditionally approved by the government before Trump’s order halting the refugee program should still be allowed to resettle, the judges found.
The panel ruled on an emergency appeal of a ruling from US District Judge Jamal Whitehead who found that the president’s authority to suspend refugee admissions is not limitless and that Trump cannot nullify the law passed by Congress establishing the program.
Whitehead pointed to reports of refugees stranded in dangerous places, families separated from relatives in the US and people sold all their possessions for travel to the US that was later canceled.
Melissa Keaney, an attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project, applauded the portions of the order that the appeals court left intact.
“We welcome this continued relief for tens of thousands of refugees who will now have the opportunity to restart their lives in the United States,” she said.
Whitehead, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, also issued a second order Tuesday blocking the cancelation of refugee resettlement contracts.
Trump’s order said the refugee program — a form of legal migration to the US for people displaced by war, natural disaster or persecution — would be suspended because cities and communities had been taxed by “record levels of migration” and didn’t have the ability to “absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees.” There are 600,000 people being processed to come to the US as refugees around the world, according to the administration.
The Justice Department argued that the order was well within Trump’s authority.
Despite long-standing support from both major political parties for accepting thoroughly vetted refugees, the program has become politicized in recent years. Trump also temporarily halted it during his first term, and then dramatically decreased the number of refugees who could enter the US each year.
The plaintiffs said the president had not shown how the entry of these refugees would be detrimental to the US
They include the International Refugee Assistance Project on behalf of Church World Service, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency HIAS, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and individual refugees and family members. They said their ability to provide critical services to refugees, including those already in the US, has been severely inhibited by Trump’s order.
