Overview
- Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel filed his Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, seeking at least $1.3 million for false imprisonment and emotional distress.
- His complaint says U.S. officers wrongly tagged him as a Tren de Aragua member based on tattoos and removed him despite an active immigration case with no final deportation order.
- Rengel says guards beat him and cut him off from family and lawyers during four months in CECOT in 2025, a pattern Human Rights Watch has described as arbitrary detention and torture.
- The Department of Homeland Security says he is a public safety threat and an associate of Tren de Aragua and declined to share evidence, citing national security concerns.
- The removals drew on the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, and several courts have ruled that use unlawful, while a D.C. judge ordered steps to help deportees return for due-process hearings that are now on appeal.