By: Kyleigh Custer
The country of El Salvador declared a state of emergency in response to gang violence in 2022. After a failed attempt between government officials and gang leaders to negotiate peace, El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, following approval by the Legislative Assembly, implemented a 30-day state of exception. Over the span of three years, this state of emergency has been extended at least 41 times. The state of exception strips individuals of civil liberties including access to legal counsel and free assembly.
Under this state of exception, officers are authorized to arrest anyone suspected of gang activity, effectively giving security forces the clearance to arrest anyone they want. In fact, officers are given daily arrest quotas, and they are threatened with termination or transfer if they refuse to meet it. Daily quotas have led to officers fabricating evidence and arresting individuals for dubious reasons such as anonymous phone calls or inconsequential tattoos. The state of exception has provided such loose restrictions on arrests, and encouraged such high volume of them, that an individual could be arrested and sentenced to a life in the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) simply because a neighbor that did not like them placed an anonymous phone call to the police. The Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in Tecoluca, El Salvador, which opened in 2023, was Bukele’s “iron fist” against gang violence in the country.
Mass arrests have been conducted, with over 84,000 people being accused of gang affiliation and association. With so many arrests occurring, mostly done arbitrarily, thousands of individuals are innocent. Limited information makes it difficult to find exact data, but human rights advocates suggest that one in ten arrested people are innocent and wrongly accused. In addition, the current system has raised concerns with human rights advocates about suspected and reported abuses and torture, including severe beatings and electric shocks. Prison cells that the inmates are locked in are so over-crowded that detainees are forced to sleep on the floor, with some even being forced to sleep while standing.
Recently, some individuals in the United States that are classified as alien enemies have been deported to El Salvador and sent to CECOT. Human rights groups have argued that a deal to move detainees outside of the reach of United States courts violates the Constitution. These groups have also filed lawsuits in an effort to prevent mass deportations carried out through the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). Most recently, discussions of “safe third country” deportations have arisen. This concept of sending asylum-seekers to a separate country deemed as “safe” has raised concerns, and nearly a dozen countries, El Salvador included, have agreed to receive United States deportees.
With El Salvador’s “mega-prison” only growing, the United States must give consideration to the growing ethical and legal concerns of advocates and citizens alike.
