DeportationsForced Back into the Lion’s Den
A disturbing new report from Human Rights Watch found that at least 138 people deported from the United States to El Salvador since 2013 have been killed. The 117-page report also says that researchers identified at least 70 deportees who were sexually assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped. Immigration advocates argue that it is not hard to guess what would be the fate of asylum seekers who offer details on their asylum application forms of specific acts of violence by specific criminal gangs – and then have to stay in El Salvador, exposed to these gangs’ revenge, while waiting for a decision in a U.S. court. Since September, the Trump administration has required the Central American country to keep asylum seekers in El Salvador while they await the results of their asylum claims.
A disturbing new report from Human Rights Watch found that at least 138 people deported from the United States to El Salvador since 2013 have been killed. The 117-page report also says that researchers identified at least 70 deportees who were sexually assaulted, tortured, or kidnapped.
Many of the victims were asylum-seekers who were attacked or killed by the gangs they originally fled. In each case, the asylum seekers offered details of the dangers they were fleeing and the risks they would face if their asylum application was rejected.
Human Rights Watch says that the findings show that “the U.S. is repeatedly violating its obligations to protect Salvadorans from return to serious risk of harm.”
Human Rights Watch notes that It is the first systematic effort to find out what happened to Salvadorans whose asylum claims were rejected in U.S. immigration courts because they failed to demonstrate “credible fear” of violence in El Salvador.
Despite the fact that El Salvador has one of the world’s highest homicide rates,the Trump administration, as part of its immigration crackdown, in September signed an agreement with El Salvador requiring the Central American country to keep asylum seekers in El Salvador while they await the results of their asylum claims.
Immigration advocates argue that it is not hard to guess what would be the fate of asylum seekers who offer details on their asylum application forms of specific acts of violence by specific criminal gangs – and then have to stay in El Salvador, exposed to these gangs’ revenge, while waiting for a decision in a U.S. court.
Here is the summary of the Human Rights Watch report:
The U.S. government has deported people to face abuse and even death in El Salvador. The U.S. is not solely responsible—Salvadoran gangs who prey on deportees and Salvadoran authorities who harm deportees or who do little or nothing to protect them bear direct responsibility—but in many cases the U.S. is putting Salvadorans in harm’s way in circumstances where it knows or should know that harm is likely.
