International Detention Coalition (IDC) expresses its profound concern regarding the mass expulsions and forced disappearance of migrants from the United States to their detention in highly alarming conditions in nearby third countries, notably El Salvador, Panama and Costa Rica. These actions, driven by the current U.S. administration’s expansion of immigration enforcement beyond its borders, have exposed the gravity of risk to life, liberty, and mental and physical integrity of people on the move inherent in such policies.
As U.S. immigration detention and deportation practices have escalated since January 2025, they have been accompanied by a rhetoric of criminalisation, the flagrant disregard of due process guarantees and consequent forced disappearance of documented and undocumented migrants in the country. As of April 6th 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported holding 47,928 individuals in immigration detention – a number approaching its maximum capacity of 54,500. Nearly half of those detained have no criminal record, while many others have only minor infractions such as traffic violations.
These developments are underpinned by a record-setting enforcement budget, including an additional $9.5 billion for detention infrastructure approved by the U.S. Congress, along with an emergency top-up of $500 million. This unprecedented investment is not a commitment to justice, but a reinforcement of an increasingly punitive system of surveillance, detention and deportation.
Over the past three months, the mass deportations to Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador, including of children and those in need of international protection, have been criticised by human rights organisations and have come under legal scrutiny in U.S. courts, the Inter American Court of Human RIghts and the U.N. Committee on the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Of particular concern is the expulsion and disappearance of around 250 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, many of whom were removed to the Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), a mega-prison internationally condemned for its inhumane conditions. El Salvador has been under a state of emergency since March 2022, which has led to the suspension of certain constitutional rights, associated with mass incarcerations and reports of human rights abuses. Reports indicate that these deportations were carried out in violation of a U.S. court order and that most of those expelled had no links to the criminal group cited by U.S. authorities. These actions appear to be a deliberate political gesture aimed at intimidating people on the move across the Americas.
One emblematic case is that of Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran national legally residing in Maryland, USA, who was forcibly deported and held in the CECOT before being moved to another prison in Santa Ana. U.S.
IDC strongly condemns the externalisation of immigration enforcement by the United States, which includes agreements with third countries, such as El Salvador, to incarcerate deported individuals in prisons, government-contracted hotels or other detention facilities. These arrangements are opaque, lack due process safeguards, and have seriously eroded international protection frameworks. As a result, they make it impossible to protect against the forced disappearances of people in detention and deportation. They also reinforce the dangerous narrative that immigration is a security threat to be neutralised, rather than a complex human phenomenon to be managed with dignity and care.
Immigration detention is a failed and harmful policy. It disregards human rights, undermines the rule of law, and causes irreparable harm to individuals and communities. IDC calls for the immediate suspension of border externalisation of immigration detention, the release of all those detained for immigration reasons, and a decisive shift towards community-based alternative measures that respect individual rights and freedoms
We urge the governments of the United States and El Salvador, as well as those of other countries in the region, to uphold their obligations under international law and ensure that no individual is detained or deported without due process and legal protections.