Demand Progress

When secret police in masks jump out of unmarked vehicles, handcuff someone, and take them to an undisclosed location to detain them indefinitely, that’s not law enforcement. It’s kidnapping.

That’s what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are now doing everyday on the streets of American cities. When the administration then sends the people they’ve kidnapped to a foreign country, the practice escalates to human trafficking.¹

From El Salvador and South Sudan to Angola, Uzbekistan, and at least 16 other countries, ICE is creating a global pipeline of American-sponsored detention centers in countries often notorious for violence and human rights violations.²

The Constitution is clear: Everyone is entitled to due process in a court of law, and even those convicted of crimes must not endure cruel and unusual punishment. Congress must put an end to these horrific, illegal renditions.

Those sent to these overseas prisons have no idea how long they may remain incarcerated in a country that is not their home.

Documents show that more than 71 percent of current ICE detainees have no criminal conviction, yet that didn’t stop ICE from trafficking detainees to CECOT, the infamous Salvadoran torture prison where it’s been said “the only way out is in a coffin.”

Congressional pressure has already resulted in the release of one person from CECOT: Kilmar Armando Ábrego García, was returned to the United States after Sen. Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador to meet with him.

But that’s not enough. Congress must use every tool at its disposal to put an end to the administration’s illegal deportations — and not stop until every deported person wrongly imprisoned in a foreign country is brought home.

1. The Intercept, "ICE Said They Were Being Flown to Louisiana. Their Flight Landed in Africa,” July 8, 2025.
2. Guardian, “US completes deportation of eight men to South Sudan after legal wrangling,” July 7, 2025.