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3mo ago

Venezuelan Deported to El Salvador’s CECOT Prison Sues U.S. for $1.3 Million

The case tests U.S. liability for wartime removals under the Alien Enemies Act.

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Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel, who has filed a formal complaint against the U.S. government for sending him to El Salvador's most notorious prison, claiming he was falsely accused of gang membership by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, looks on during an interview, in Caracas, Venezuela July 29, 2025. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa
Inmates remain in a cell during a visit by Chile's president-elect Jose Antonio Kast (out of frame) to the Counter-Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) mega-prison, where hundreds of MS-13 and 18th Street gang members are being held, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on January 30, 2026.
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Overview

  • Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, seeks $1.3 million for false imprisonment and other claims.
  • He says ICE agents misidentified him as a Tren de Aragua member based on tattoos despite a pending immigration case, then flew him out under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a wartime statute rarely used in modern immigration enforcement.
  • Rengel alleges four months of beatings, deprivation and isolation in El Salvador’s CECOT mega‑prison before a July 2025 prisoner swap returned him to Venezuela, claims that echo Human Rights Watch findings of torture-level abuse there.
  • The Department of Homeland Security counters that he entered illegally, labels him a confirmed gang associate and public safety threat, and declines to share the intelligence it cites, a position featured in statements to outlets like The Independent and ABC News.
  • The filing lands as courts weigh the administration’s Alien Enemies Act removals, with some rulings against the practice and an order to facilitate returns now on appeal, and it could open the door to similar damages claims by other deportees.