I invite civil, bipartisan discussion on this post.
Stories of the United States deporting people to El Salvador have widely been reported, including many without criminal records, and many, apparently, without due process. This isn’t just deportation.
In addition to El Salvador, discussions have been ongoing to send deportees to Rwanda and now they are underway to send prisoners to Libya. This isn’t just deportation.
Similarly, we have seen reports on the conditions at CECOT in El Salvador. According to Amnesty International, the conditions at Rwandan prisons are also dreadful. The conditions at prisons in Libya are so terrible the United Nations has demanded their Migrant Detention Centers be closed while Amnesty talked of systematic torture in their prisons. This isn’t just deportation.
I understand wanting a secure border, and I understand wanting to make sure people follow the appropriate legal process for coming into the United States of America. This, however, isn’t just deportation. We are trying to send people to prisons so cruel they would never be allowed in the United States. This is designed to inflict the most possible harm on those deported by sending them to the most notoriously cruel prisons in the world.
This isn’t just deportation. This is cruel and unusual punishment.
What will it take for Congress to weigh in?
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1-5387506/rwanda-talks-us-deportation-migrants
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/north-africa/libya/report-libya/
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution – Wikipedia
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