Lawyers press El Salvador over detained Venezuelan migrants

SAL SALVADOR: A law firm hired by Caracas complained Monday that it had received no response from El Salvador’s Supreme Court to its petition seeking the release of 252 Venezuelan migrants deported by the United States.

US President Donald Trump invoked rarely used wartime legislation in March to fly migrants to El Salvador without any court hearing, alleging they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, a charge which their families and lawyers deny.

Attorney Jaime Ortega delivered a letter addressed to President Nayib Bukele voicing concern about the lack of progress in the habeas corpus petition filed with the court on March 24.

“We have not received any notification” from the court, Ortega told reporters.

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His firm said it had also received no response to its requests for the country’s human rights ombudsman to intervene.

“There is a delay in justice,” said Ortega’s colleague, Salvador Rios.

The lawyers asked Bukele to allow them to talk to the detainees, who are being held in a high-security prison, “as proof of life.”

Venezuela’s attorney general has accused Bukele of “human trafficking” by receiving payment from the United States to incarcerate expelled migrants.

Trump’s administration has paid El Salvador millions of dollars to lock up migrants it says are criminals and gang members in a maximum security prison.

Last month, Bukele offered to trade the 252 Venezuelans for an equal number of political prisoners held by President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

Maduro responded by calling Bukele a “systematic and serial violator of human rights” and demanding the Venezuelans’ unconditional release.