The United Nations has raised alarm over mass deportations from the United States, warning of potential human rights violations linked to the practice.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said on Tuesday that the deportation of non-citizens, particularly to third countries, was troubling and appeared to breach both U.S. and international legal standards.
Türk revealed that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had received reports of over 100 Venezuelan deportees being held in a notorious prison in El Salvador, with their safety and legal status uncertain.
According to OHCHR, the U.S. deported more than 142,000 people between January 20 and April 29. The current whereabouts of at least 245 Venezuelans and 30 Salvadorans remain unknown.
Many were deported under the U.S. Alien Enemies Act as alleged members of criminal groups and have reportedly been detained at the Centre for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in the Central American country.
Detainees at the maximum-security prison are treated particularly harshly, without access to legal counsel or family members and have no contact with the outside world.
OHCHR has received information from family members and lawyers regarding more than 100 Venezuelans believed to be held in CECOT.
The reports indicate that many were not informed of the U.S. Government’s intention to deport them to be detained in a third country.
Furthermore, many had no access to a lawyer and were unable to challenge the lawfulness of their removal before being flown out.
They include the rights to due process, protection from arbitrary detention, equality before the law, and protection from exposure to torture or other irreparable harm in other States.
Neither the U.S. or Salvadoran authorities have published official lists of the detainees, and their legal status in El Salvador remains unclear.
Many family members interviewed by OHCHR voiced deep distress at not knowing where, and in what circumstances, their loved ones are being held. Some only became aware when they recognized their relatives from videos on social media of them in or being taken to CECOT.
“Families we have spoken to have expressed a sense of complete powerlessness in the face of what has happened and their pain at seeing their relatives labelled and handled as violent criminals, even terrorists, without any court judgment as to validity of what is claimed against them,” Türk said.
“The manner in which some of the individuals were detained and deported – including the use of shackles on them – as well as the demeaning rhetoric used against migrants, has also been profoundly disturbing,” he added.
The High Commissioner welcomed the essential role that the U.S. judiciary, legal community and civil society are playing to ensure the protection of human rights in this situation.
“I have called on the U.S. Government to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with due process, to give prompt and full effect to the determinations of its courts, to safeguard the rights of children.
”I also urge the government to stop the removal of any individual to any country where there is a real risk of torture or other irreparable harm,” he said.
