Venezuelan detainees were held incommunicado for four months

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True. The Venezuelans deported in March 2025 had no contact with families or lawyers until their July 2025 release through a prisoner swap. This is called "enforced disappearance"—a human rights violation where authorities detain someone and refuse to acknowledge their location or fate. Families in the U.S. couldn't find out if their relatives were alive. Detainees couldn't notify attorneys or file habeas corpus petitions (which the Supreme Court later said they had a right to do). CECOT's rules ban phone calls, family visits, and lawyer meetings—even for people never convicted of crimes in El Salvador. The four-month blackout prevented judicial review. If detainees had been able to contact lawyers immediately, judges might have ordered their return before systematic torture began. The incommunicado detention also hid evidence of abuse. Human Rights Watch only learned about torture after the July release. This delay let the U.S. and El Salvador avoid accountability for months while claiming deportees were safely detained.

Venezuelan detainees were held incommunicado for four months

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