FILE PHOTO: Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in this handout image obtained March 16, 2025. Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) -A law firm will on Monday present a habeas corpus lawsuit to El Salvador's Supreme Court in defense of 30 Venezuelan citizens jailed in the Central American nation's so-called "mega-prison" after being deported there by the United States.
The lawsuit, which will seek to question the legality of their detention, comes after the United States sent some 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
The judges in charge of the case are allies of President Nayib Bukele, who has offered to hold U.S. prisoners in its prison system and accepted payment from the U.S. to do so.
Outside the court, lawyer Jaime Ortega told reporters that while 30 Venezuelan nationals had granted them the powers of attorney to represent them, they would request habeas corpus for the rest of the Venezuelans detained in the country.
Some 137 of the group of Venezuelans were deported under an obscure U.S. wartime law targeting "alien enemies" that was quickly blocked by a U.S. judge, who ordered the flight carrying the Venezuelan citizens to turn around.
However, the Venezuelan citizens were later received in El Salvador where they were taken into custody in a massive anti-terrorism prison, under a deal in which Washington is paying El Salvador's government $6 million, according to the White House.
Lawyers and family members of many of the migrants deny they are members of Tren de Aragua and the U.S. Judge James Boasberg on Monday ruled they must be given the chance to challenge the government's claim that they are gang members.
The judge also cited accounts of poor prison conditions, including beatings, humiliations, irregular access to food and water and having to sleep standing up because of overcrowding.
El Salvador's presidential office did not respond to Reuters' request for comment regarding the prison conditions.
(Reporting by Nelson Renteria; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)
