Big Surprise: The Trump Regime Lied to Judges About CECOT

What we've all long suspected has been confirmed by the President of El Salvador in a statement to the United Nations

If you’ve been following my writing or listening to our podcasts, you’ll note that we’ve been covering the group of men stranded incommunicado in an Salvadoran torture prison across multiple cases in the courts. These men have been declared a putative class by Judge Boasberg in the JGG case in the DC District Court.

Across multiple cases, when ordered to return people unlawfully or erroneously disappeared to CECOT, the government has continually relied on the argument that they do not have constructive custody of the men and therefore cannot return any of them to the United States because President Bukele and the “sovereign nation of El Salvador” control the custody of those trapped in the foreign gulag.

But yesterday, on July 7th, a new filing hit Judge Boasberg’s docket in the JGG case, and it says:

Petitioners-Plaintiffs(“Petitioners”) respectfully notify this Court of the attached document from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (“WGEID”): a Report on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in the WGEID’s four cases investigating the disappearances of four Venezuelan men, who were sent to El Salvador on March 15, 2025.

You’ll recall that March 15th is the day that Judge Boasberg held an emergency hearing over a lawsuit filed by JGG et al in the early hours of the morning - asking the judge to issue a Temporary Restraining Order to stop the planes as none of the people aboard were given due process. Judge Boasberg issued the order in the afternoon the same day.

The government ignored that order.

The Supreme Court eventually vacated Boasberg’s order, but said 9-0 that people must receive meaningful due process. Since then, the plaintiffs have filed a new complaint and Judge Boasberg granted class status to all those disappeared to CECOT on March 14th and 15th - which is around 238 men. (The women were sent back as CECOT does not accept women.)

The new filing goes on to say:

As set forth in the attached Report, the Government of El Salvador responded to the UN’s inquiry opened by the four families asking about the disappearance of their family members:

The Salvadoran State emphatically states that its authorities have not arrested, detained, or transferred the persons referred to in the communications of the Working Group. The actions of the State of El Salvador have been limited to the implementation of a bilateral cooperation mechanism with another State, through which it has facilitated the use of the Salvadoran prison infrastructure for the custody of persons detained within the scope of the justice system and law enforcement of that other State. In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters. In this regard, the actions attributable to the Salvadoran State are limited to its sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction, and therefore it cannot be held responsible for the failure to observe the principle of non-refoulement with respect to the persons mentioned.

This Court correctly held that, whether or not Respondents-Defendants have “constructive custody” of Petitioners for purposes of habeas jurisdiction, Respondents are required to “facilitate the ability of the CECOT Class to seek habeas relief.” However, should it become necessary for Petitioners to pursue the “constructive custody” issue, Petitioners reserve the right to seek additional discovery in light of this new information, as well as Respondents’ original inadequate discovery responses and this Court’s acknowledgment that its constructive custody conclusion was predicated on “the current record.”

And Trump’s government knew that it had constructive custody of those at CECOT before it made a declaration to the court that it didn’t:

Such additional discovery may be particularly important because this new evidence contradicts the underlying custody conclusion in the Kozak Declaration of May 9, 2025, which is dated after El Salvador’s responses to the UN and after Petitioners sought habeas review (the date habeas attaches). Decl. of Michael G. Kozak, ECF No. 125 ¶ 9 (“It was and remains my understanding that the detention and ultimate disposition of those detained in CECOT and other Salvadoran detention facilities are matters within the legal authority of El Salvador in accordance with its domestic and international legal obligations.”)

So not only did the Trump government obfuscate and stonewall court orders requiring it to hand over documents related to the facilitation of the return of these men - including during the two-week discovery ordered by Judge Xinis in the Abrego case - but it openly misrepresented itself in court documents and declarations under the penalty of perjury.

Today, this Bukele declaration was mentioned in another case about a man in custody at CECOT in a letter from Judge Gallagher - a Trump appointed judge handling the JOP case. She wrote what amounts to a show cause order to the government, requiring they explain themselves to the court:

In status reports submitted pursuant to this Court’s June 5, 2025 Order, Defendants have repeatedly skirted this Court’s directive to provide information regarding the steps they have taken and will take to facilitate the return of Cristian to the United States. Instead, Defendants have repeatedly made oblique references to their request of “assistance” from the U.S. Department of State (DOS), which has “enter[ed] into negotiations to facilitate Cristian’s return” and “assumed responsibility on behalf of the U.S. Government for…diplomatic discussions with El Salvador.” Assuming the Government of El Salvador provided truthful information to the UN, no “diplomatic discussions” should be required here because El Salvador has no sovereign interest in Cristian’s continued confinement in that country. This Court directs Defendants to explain their position that “diplomatic discussions” involving the DOS are required to facilitate Cristian’s return to the United States in compliance with this Court’s Order. Defendants should provide their response no later than Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Despite the informal nature of this letter, it is an Order of the Court and should be docketed accordingly.

I’m awaiting the lawyers for Mr. Abrego to mention this in their complaint, and I’ll be looking out for now-fired DoJ lawyer Erez Reuveni to possibly update his protected whistleblower report.

If the courts are unable or unwilling to hold the government in contempt for this blatant lie, then we need to reexamine those procedures because if this isn’t contempt, nothing is.

~AG

March 16, 2025, by El Salvador's Presidency press office shows the arrival of alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) © AFP