Venezuelans freed from Salvadoran prison, but many still say they were wrongly deported

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published July 23, 2025 at 11:02 AM CDT

Arturo Suárez, one of the Venezuelan migrants deported months ago to El Salvador by the United States under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, is welcomed home by his relatives in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (Cristian Hernandez/AP)

In the four months since it sent more than 230 Venezuelan men to a prison in El Salvador, the Trump administration has released almost no details about their cases or their living conditions. Then last week, with little fanfare, the men were released back to Venezuela. Now their stories are being told.

A new investigation by ProPublica offers insight into what happened to some of the men imprisoned in El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT.

Here & Now‘s Anthony Brooks speaks with reporter Melissa Sanchez.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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