A Venezuelan man is taking legal steps against the US government, saying he was wrongly deported and detained in El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison. Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, 27, filed an administrative claim Thursday with the Department of Homeland Security, the required precursor to a federal lawsuit, the New York Times reports. He's seeking $1.3 million in damages, alleging that US immigration authorities removed him without due process and misidentified him as a gang member.
Rengel was among 252 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador in March, an action tied to a Trump-era effort targeting alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang via a rarely used wartime law. While some deportees had criminal records, a New York Times investigation found most did not. Rengel, who worked as a barber in Texas, says his only US conviction was for a misdemeanor after drug paraphernalia was found in a car he was riding in.
Rengel describes grim conditions during four months at CECOT—crammed cells, minimal cleaning, lack of medical care, and routine beatings by guards. He says detainees were often assaulted for trivial reasons and had little contact with the outside world. His family could not locate him for over a month after his deportation, and his immigration records vanished from official tracking systems. He entered the US in June 2023 through the CBP One app, which at the time allowed people to schedule appointments to cross the border. He had applied for legal status and had an appointment with an immigration judge in 2028, the Washington Post reports.
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The Department of Homeland Security maintains that Rengel was a confirmed public safety threat. The department calls his claims a fake "sob story," the Post reports. Rengel denies any gang affiliation and says his tattoos were misinterpreted. After a prisoner exchange deal this month, he is now in Venezuela. He tells the Times that he doesn't plan to return to the US, but he hopes the legal action will prevent the administration from treating other migrants the same way. "I want to clear my name," he says. "I am not a bad person."
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