A copy of a previously secret memo between the United States and El Salvador outlining a deal to house suspected gang members at a notorious mega-prison was made public Sept. 9.
The $4.67 million agreement appeared in a federal court disclosure. It's part of a lawsuit from a group of human rights organizations suing the administration over what it called an “unlawful and inhumane” campaign to “disappear people" to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).
“The correspondence between the U.S. State Department and El Salvador confirms what we have long suspected: the Trump Administration did nothing to meaningfully ensure that individuals disappeared from the U.S. to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison were protected from torture, indefinite confinement or other abuses,” wrote Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, part of the coalition that released the file.
The administration had previously stated it paid El Salvador to house suspected gang members deported from the United States. But the details of the agreement had not been disclosed.
The agreement outlined specific exclusions for how the funds could be spent — and not spent. None of the money could be used to:
