A Venezuelan man deported from the United States has issued a complaint against the administration of President Donald Trump, saying he was wrongfully sent to a Salvadoran prison where he suffered beatings and other forms of abuse.
Thursday’s complaint is the first of its kind from one of the more than 250 Venezuelan men sent in March to the Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), a maximum-security prison in El Salvador known for human rights abuses.
In filing a complaint against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 27-year-old barber Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel has taken a first step towards suing the Trump administration.
He and his lawyers from the Democracy Defenders Fund are seeking $1.3m in damages for alleged abuse.
Rengel claims the Trump administration falsely accused him of being a gang member in order to circumvent his right to due process and swiftly deport him.
“For more than four months, Rengel languished in El Salvador – which is not his country of origin and a place where he has no ties – where he suffered physical, verbal and psychological abuse,” the complaint said.
President Trump campaigned for a second term on the promise that he would implement a policy of mass deportation, and in March, the Republican leader invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify the rapid expulsions of alleged gang members.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
