This case challenges a secret and illegal agreement between the U.S. Department of State and the government of El Salvador that allows people deported from the United States—including asylum seekers, longtime U.S. residents, and even U.S. citizens, as threatened by the President—to be indefinitely detained in a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison in brutal conditions. The agreement bypasses Congress, violates U.S. and international law, and relies on a covert funding scheme in which the the United States funnels millions of dollars to the Salvadoran government to carry out incommunicado detentions.

Under this backroom deal, the U.S. government arrests U.S. residents and sends them to be imprisoned in a Salvadoran facility, with no access to legal counsel, courts, or contact with their families. These facilities operate like black sites. Detained people are subjected to abuse, held incommunicado, and denied the most basic legal protections. As of June 2025, reports estimate that close to 300 people have been disappeared under the agreement, though the true number remains unknown.

At its core, this lawsuit is about stopping the U.S. government from outsourcing human rights abuses through secret international deals. The rule of law doesn’t end at the border and human rights cannot be suspended by handshake agreements.

What is the legal argument in this case?

This case argues that the State Department’s backroom deal violated the Administrative Procedure Act by exceeding the executive’s legal authority and putting lives at risk in violation of U.S. laws, treaty obligations, and the Constitution. The case demands that the agreement be made public, declared illegal, and permanently halted.

What is the status of this case?

Pending before the district court.

June 5, 2025