On One-Year Anniversary, ImmDef Files Claims against DHS on Behalf of Six Venezuelan Men Who Were Tortured in CECOT

ImmDef Communications
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3/13/26

Contact: Immigrant Defenders Law Center Communications

On One-Year Anniversary, ImmDef Files Claims against DHS on Behalf of Six Venezuelan Men Who Were Tortured in CECOT

Survivors speak out and advocates call for an end to third-country transfers

LOS ANGELES, CA - On the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration unlawfully invoking the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to render over 250 Venezuelan men to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) filed administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act on behalf of six of those men – Andry Hernández Romero, Arturo Suarez Trejo, Maikel Olivera, Miguel Rojas-Mendoza, Ysqueibel Peñaloza Chirinos, and Pedro Escobar Blanco. ImmDef’s clients suffered psychophysiological trauma stemming from their unlawful incarceration in CECOT, a notorious, brutal maximum security mega-prison in El Salvador. By filing these complaints, ImmDef’s clients seek to have their names cleared, while pursuing compensation for the severe physical and psychological harm they suffered as a result of their unlawful disappearances and detention.

For 125 days, ImmDef’s clients, and hundreds of other Venezuelans, were held incommunicado, with no access to their families or attorneys. The vast majority have no criminal history, a fact well-known to the Trump administration. Many of them were in active asylum proceedings prior to the March 15, 2025 flight, including ImmDef client Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist.

Reflecting on the anniversary, Lindsay Toczylowski, CEO and co-founder of ImmDef shared, “It’s been one year since we watched in horror as planes took off in defiance of a court order and we knew our client Andry was most likely on board. It’s been nearly a year since we saw pictures of Andry being brutalized by guards in that torture prison. Much of what we feared during the 125 days he was held incommunicado turned out to be true – he was being tortured and every day he was there his life was at grave risk. It still takes my breath away to know that it was our own government that intentionally sent him into harm’s way. Today, as we file these complaints seeking justice for Andry and our other clients, they take their power back. Our clients are still living with the consequences of what happened to them, while the people responsible for their suffering walk free and continue to wield their power with impunity. If Donald Trump and Stephen Miller get away with sending people without due process to prisons in foreign countries to be tortured, then what happened to Andry can happen to any one of us. Our choice, as a people of conscience, is to either fight back and demand justice now or look around and ask, ‘Who among us is next?’ The men sent to CECOT were the canaries in the coal mine, a test case for how much cruelty and violence we will tolerate as a society. Today - and every day - ImmDef is choosing to fight back. We will continue this fight for as long as it takes to secure justice for Andry, Arturo, Maikel, Miguel, Ysqueibel, and Pedro.”

The United States has yet to take responsibility for the disappearance of individuals transferred from U.S. custody to CECOT in El Salvador. Instead of ending these abuses, the administration is expanding them—continuing to send people into dangerous, life‑threatening situations in countries to which they have no connection.

Director of legal services Melissa Shepard stated, “In all my years as an immigration attorney, I have never seen a client simply vanish in the middle of their case with no explanation. In court, the government couldn’t even explain where he was — he had been disappeared. When the government detains and transfers people in secrecy, without transparency or access to the courts, it tears at the basic protections a democracy is supposed to guarantee. What this experience makes painfully clear is that due process and accountability cannot be optional. They are the only safeguards standing between people and the kind of lawlessness our clients suffered. We must end third country transfers, restore the asylum system, and humanitarian parole, and reinstate temporary protective status so this nightmare never happens again.”

Ysqueibel Peñaloza shared, “Being disappeared to CECOT is an experience that no human being should ever endure, no matter their nationality. It was a profound injustice and devastating blow to my mentality. Being sent to CECOT in El Salvador was complete terror and the mental and physical abuse was torture.”

Andry Hernández Romero reflected, “As a Venezuelan citizen with no criminal record anywhere in the world, I would like to tell not only the government of the United States but governments everywhere that no human being is illegal. The practice of judging whole communities for the wrongdoing of a single individual must end. Governments should use their power to help every person in the nation become more aware and informed, to strengthen our cultures and build a stronger generation with principles and values - one that multiplies the positive instead of destroying unfulfilled dreams and opportunities.”

Arturo Suarez Trejo shared, “It has truly been a difficult year, a year of learning how to live with everything that happened to us. It has been a year full of challenges, because this situation has affected me physically, psychologically, professionally, and economically. I’m still trying to process everything we had to go through and everything I had to endure. It has been a very, very hard year, but with God’s help, the support of my family, and the people who care about me, little by little I am moving forward again. I would like people to understand that injustices truly exist; that flawed processes exist. I want this to be an example of how easily migrant rights and human rights are violated and undermined.”

In addition to holding DHS accountable for the breakdown of the rule of law and subsequent torture of the 252 Venezuelan men sent to CECOT, ImmDef is demanding the following:

The Trump administration must officially release the names of all people the United States sent to CECOT to ensure that everyone has been or will be released.
The federal government must clear the names of the 252 men wrongfully labeled as criminal gang members of Tren de Aragua.
DHS must end the practice of outsourcing torture through third‑country removals, restore humanitarian parole, and rebuild a functioning, humane asylum system.
DHS must reinstate Temporary Protected Status for all individuals who cannot safely return to their home countries, halt mass deportations and unlawful raids and arrests, and guarantee due process for everyone navigating the immigration system.
Congress must pass the Neighbors Not Enemies Act, which would repeal the Alien Enemies Act.

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The Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) is a next-generation social justice law firm that defends immigrant communities against injustices in the immigration system. Our programs are a first step towards realizing the long-term goal of providing universal representation to all immigrants facing deportation. ImmDef is now the largest non‐profit, pro bono provider of deportation defense in California, with offices in Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Ana, and San Diego.

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