A US federal judge\u2019s order that some of the Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a notorious prison in El Salvador must be allowed to return to the United States to fight their cases has been greeted with hope and a sense of vindication \u2013 but also fear \u2013 by one of the deportees.<\/p>\n
US district judge James Boasberg ruled<\/a> on Thursday in Washington DC that the Trump administration should facilitate the return of deportees who are currently in countries outside Venezuela<\/a>, saying they must be given the opportunity to seek the due process they were denied after being illegally expelled from the US<\/a> last March.<\/p>\n Boasberg added that the US government should cover the travel costs of those who wish to come to the US to argue their immigration<\/a> cases.<\/p>\n Luis Mu\u00f1oz Pinto, 27, is one of the men affected and he spoke exclusively to the Guardian on Thursday by telephone from Bogot\u00e1, the capital of Colombia, where he has lived since being released from detention<\/a> in El Salvador.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to go back to the US to defend myself in court and prove that I am not a member of the Tren de Aragua [gang] \u2013 but what happens if they detain me and I have to live through another nightmare?\u201d Mu\u00f1oz Pinto said.<\/p>\n He has no criminal record in any country. He was an engineering student in Venezuela and fled in 2024 after being beaten by police while protesting against the dictatorship there, first to Colombia and then north. He had an appointment in the US to request asylum under the Biden administration but instead was arrested and accused of being a member of the dangerous Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua<\/a> because he had some tattoos, despite no evidence being presented of actual gang connections.<\/p>\n A handout photo made available by the Presidency of El Salvador shows guards at the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) prison transferring Venezuelans on 16 March 2025. Photograph: Presidency of El Salvador\/EPA<\/p>\n The judge acknowledged that if any of the men return to the US to argue in court, it was his understanding that \u201cthey will be detained upon their arrival\u201d.<\/p>\n Mu\u00f1oz Pinto said: \u201cDo you have any idea what my family went through after finding out I was sent to that prison in El Salvador? I went from chasing a dream to work and support my family to being humiliated by guards beating me in the face and my entire body.\u201d<\/p>\n On the night of Saturday 15 March last year, the Trump administration abruptly deported<\/a> more than 250 Venezuelan men to El Salvador, defying a court block and orders that any such flights should turn around<\/a>.<\/p>\n Images then emerged of the men shackled held bent over by baton-wielding Salvadoran police, before their heads were shaved and they were imprisoned at the notorious Cecot mega-prison<\/a>. Former detainees said<\/a> they were told they would die there, and had no outside communications with lawyers or family. Then last July they were returned to Venezuela in a US-brokered prisoner swap<\/a>.<\/p>\n Boasberg on Thursday told the Trump administration to prioritize the deportees currently living in third countries but also explain \u201cthe feasibility of returning plaintiffs still in Venezuela\u201d, while US-Venezuela relations remain vexed.<\/p>\n A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, blasted Boasberg\u2019s ruling, saying in a statement it was \u201can absurd, unlawful ruling from a far-left judicial activist trying to undermine the president\u2019s lawful authority to carry out deportations\u201d.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cAmericans elected President Trump based on his promise to deport criminal illegal aliens and Make America Safe Again. Boasberg has no right to stop the will of the American people, and this will not be the final say on the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee Gelernt, the lead ACLU attorney in the case, said he was aware of only a small group of the deportees living outside Venezuela.<\/p>\n Boasberg\u2019s order in principle applies to the 137 men deported to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act invoked by Donald Trump, when the US president made an unprecedented claim that the US was being \u201cinvaded\u201d by gang members allegedly with ties to the Venezuelan state. The others sent to Cecot last year were deported under regular US immigration<\/a> law and are not covered by the current case.<\/p>\n An aerial view of Cecot, where Luis Mu\u00f1oz Pinto was imprisoned along with other Venezuelans deported from the US. Photograph: John Moore\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cIt is worth emphasizing that this situation would never have arisen had the government simply afforded plaintiffs their constitutional rights before initially deporting them,\u201d Boasberg said on Thursday.<\/p>\n However, he added that the number of men who may seek to return to the US \u201cwould be likely very small if not zero\u201d.<\/p>\n Mu\u00f1oz Pinto is torn.<\/p>\n \u201cI know Trump deported me to Cecot and I\u2019m not over that nightmare yet, but the US is still the land of opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He was deported under the Alien Enemies Act, he said, a fact which the Guardian verified via sources familiar with the case, who were not authorized to speak openly on the matter.<\/p>\n Before Boasberg\u2019s latest order, the ACLU had argued in court that the men should have the right to either return to the US or have a remote hearing to challenge their deportation.<\/p>\n In January, lawyers for the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, argued in a court<\/a> filing that bringing the 137 men back into the US \u201cwould risk material damage to the US foreign policy interests in Venezuela\u201d.<\/p>\n Even remote hearings, lawyers for Rubio added, \u201calso present a serious risk of intentional interference by anti-American elements in Venezuela that would undermine the interests of justice\u201d. <\/p>\n Human rights investigators found<\/a> that Cecot guards dished out beatings, torture<\/a>, denial of food<\/a> and alleged sexual assault<\/a>. Lawyers for some of the Venezuelans said they endured<\/a> \u201cstate-sanctioned torture\u201d.<\/p>\n El Salvador\u2019s government does not make efforts to publicly rebut allegations of violence and deprivation amounting to torture. The president, Nayib Bukele<\/a>, responded sarcastically<\/a> to allegations of cruelty at Cecot made by Hillary Clinton last year. Some online influencers are invited in<\/a> to make videos of the harsh conditions.<\/p>\n Guards overlook a module holding thousands of accused gang members imprisoned at Cecot in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Photograph: John Moore\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Before Boasberg\u2019s latest ruling, Mu\u00f1oz Pinto had also spoken to the Guardian in person, in Bogot\u00e1, in his first non-TV interview. He was briefly featured on CBS\u2019s 60 Minutes show, aired in the US last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mu\u00f1oz Pinto recounted that on arrival at Cecot: \u201cThree guards threw me to the ground and kicked me in the face so badly that it caused me a nosebleed and all my gums bled too.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI started to cry because I didn\u2019t know what to do, I had tried to be a good man since I was little, I had gone to college, I had tried to help my parents, who are still sick in Venezuela, and I was then in the worst prison on the entire planet and I had not committed a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n