Four groups, including RFK Human Rights, filed a request seeking  precautionary measures from the  Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against El Salvador for the unlawful detention of hundreds of individuals forcibly and illegally transferred from the United States in recent months. Without any due process, these individuals—including many with pending asylum applications—are being held incommunicado in El Salvador’s infamous Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a mega-prison widely condemned for its inhumane conditions.

The action, brought on behalf of more than a dozen families, centers on hundreds of people subjected to enforced disappearances on or after March 15, 2025, and transferred from the United States pursuant to a secret agreement with the Bukele government. People were targeted based on unproven allegations of criminal activity, some hinging on “evidence” as flimsy as generic tattoos. None were granted a meaningful opportunity to contest their transfer, nor have they since been afforded due process.

Without any means of communicating with people inside the prison, the request raises concerns about what is happening behind closed doors, in a country where overcrowding, deaths in custody, and forced labor are regularly reported.

Why is this a key request?

This request is the latest in a series of legal actions challenging the U.S. government’s ongoing unlawful transfers of hundreds of people to detention facilities in countries across Central America, including Panama and Costa Rica.

The IACHR is empowered to request a State to adopt  precautionary measures in urgent situations to prevent irreparable harm to fundamental rights, particularly when the right to life of personal integrity is at risk. The request calls for the immediate release of all of the estimated 288 individuals illegally detained in CECOT, and for El Salvador to comply with its international legal obligations.

How is RFK Human Rights supporting this case?

In May 2025, RFK Human Rights joined three other human rights groups in filing a request for precautionary measures demanding the immediate release of the hundreds of individuals detained in CECOT. Through the action, the groups are also calling for El Salvador to ensure access to legal representation for detainees, to confirm the identities and whereabouts of all detainees and allow family contact, and to restore full due process rights. Finally, RFK Human Rights and partners also seek an order directing El Salvador to cooperate with the U.S. government on returning migrants held in CECOT.

Request number (as it appears in the respective legal mechanism)

MC 578-25

Month/Year of filing

May 2025

Legal mechanism in which the case is being litigated

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Procedural stage

The case is currently pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Counsel

Boston University School of Law International Human Rights Clinic, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), Global Strategic Litigation Council (GSLC), and RFK Human Rights