​

Subject: Abide by International Human Rights Laws: End Deportations to CECOT Prison

 

Dear [Senator/Representative] Name,

​

I am writing to express urgent concern over the United States' ongoing deportation of migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT prison under the Alien Enemies Act — a facility widely condemned for inhumane conditions, forced disappearances, and systematic abuse. These deportations include individuals who have not been convicted of any crime, and violate the foundational principles of due process, human dignity, and the rule of law.

​

Even more alarming, President Trump has publicly stated that he is open to sending American citizens to El Salvador’s mega-prison — suggesting that “if [President Bukele] would take them, I would be honored to give them.”

​

Such statements signal an escalation from deportations carried out without due process — already under serious constitutional scrutiny — to the even more extreme suggestion of banishing U.S. citizens abroad, a move that legal experts have called “beyond the pale” of what the Constitution allows.

​

This is not hypothetical. The Trump administration has already deported hundreds of people under an 18th-century wartime law, sending them to conditions described by Human Rights Watch, PBS NewsHour, and Cristosal as tantamount to torture:

​

• 23.5-hour lockdowns with lights on around the clock

• Cells overcrowded with 80–100 men sleeping on concrete floors

• No access to legal counsel or family

• Severe food, water, and medical shortages

• Deaths and disappearances without accountability

 

The United States did not build this prison — but it is sending human beings there. That makes us complicit.

Worse still, the administration has promoted these deportations through public propaganda: stylized videos of shackled men, bound and herded off planes, shared online by U.S. officials and even set to music. These displays are not only dehumanizing — they risk violating the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the Mandela Rules, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all of which bar cruel, degrading, or inhumane treatment.

​

I urge you to take immediate action:

1. Halt all deportations to CECOT and similar facilities that violate international human rights standards.

2. Investigate the legal basis and implementation of these deportations, including any violations of due process and international law.

3. Publicly reject the notion that American citizens can be sent to foreign prisons — a concept incompatible with the Constitution and our democratic values.

4. Support legislation to repeal or tightly constrain the Alien Enemies Act, which has become a tool for circumventing constitutional protections.

 

The Supreme Court has affirmed that due process still applies. Now, Congress must act to uphold that principle in practice.

 

This is a moment of reckoning — for our laws, for our values, and for the soul of our democracy. Please act with courage and urgency.

 

Sincerely,
[Your Name]