A request for jurisdictional discovery from a Venezuelan immigrant locked up in a notorious Salvadoran prison has been granted, opening the door for the release of revelatory details into the Trump administration’s detainment deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
In a wide-ranging immigration case that intersects with others that have captured national interest, a petitioner referred to as E.D.Q.C. — reportedly previously identified as Edicson David Quintero Chacon, 28, argued he was not given prior notice of his planned deportation to El Salvador, a country with which he has no affiliation, and thus unable to raise concerns of being tortured at the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, otherwise known as CECOT, which is accused of ill-treatment.
Middle District of Georgia U.S. Magistrate Judge Amelia Helmick ruled that if such allegations of a lack of notice are true, E.D.Q.C.’s transfer to and imprisonment in CECOT is “likely unlawful.” She also firmly rejected arguments by the Trump administration that certain “privileges” exist barring them from releasing information into their deal with the Salvadoran government, saying that “the only reason El Salvador has even entered the conversation in this case” is because the U.S. government sent the petitioner there.
