Washington (AFP) – El Salvador has said that the United States has legal jurisdiction over deported migrants being held in the Central American country, court documents show.
The assertion clashes with the Trump administration's claims that it has no authority to bring back the migrants jailed in El Salvador's maximum security CECOT prison as they are no longer in US custody.
Lawyers for Venezuelans held in the prison submitted the statements as evidence in a US court on Monday in another case challenging President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Responding to questions from a UN working group on enforced disappearances, El Salvador said its actions were limited to making prison facilities available for people detained within the scope of the justice system and law enforcement activities of another state.
"In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities," it said.
In mid-March, Trump sent 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans from the United States to the CECOT prison in El Salvador.
The Trump administration invoked an obscure wartime law to justify the removal of the Venezuelans, accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
The deportations sparked protests after the US government refused to bring back a Salvadoran man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been wrongly deported.
The United States claimed lack of jurisdiction until Abrego Garcia was returned in June and arrested for human trafficking, a crime he denies. His lawyers claim he was tortured in prison in El Salvador.
El Salvador has agreed to imprison expelled migrants in exchange for six million dollars, according to the White House. The US Supreme Court urged the government to respect due process because migrants have the right to challenge expulsions.