{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-van-hollen-meeks-and-castro-lead-colleagues-in-raising-alarm-about-use-of-us-taxpayer-funding-to-hold-people-in-el-salvadoran-torture-center", "Kaine, Van Hollen, Meeks, & Castro Lead Colleagues in Raising Alarm About Use of U.S. Taxpayer Funding to Hold People In El Salvadoran Torture Center", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", "kaine", "https://www.kaine.senate.gov/news", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development, along with U.S. Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-NY-05), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, led 38 lawmakers in sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem raising alarm about the horrific conditions at Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), El Salvador\u2019s notorious megaprison and torture center, and pressing the Trump Administration on its use of U.S. taxpayer funding to send and hold people there. This follows a Human Rights Watch and Cristosal report published on November 12 that found a systemic pattern of abuse and torture at CECOT.\n\n\u201cWe write to you expressing profound concern over the findings of the recently published report titled \u2018You Have Arrived in Hell: Torture and Other Abuses Against Venezuelans in El Salvador\u2019s Mega Prison,\u2019\u201d wrote the members. \u201cThis meticulously researched report, published on November 12 by Human Rights Watch and the El Salvador-based Cristosal exposes the systematic pattern of abuse and torture experienced by the 252 Venezuelan nationals the Trump Administration sent to El Salvador\u2019s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) between March and April of 2025. It also finds that the Administration failed to respect the principle of non-refoulment and questions the Administration\u2019s reliance on El Salvador\u2019s assurances that it would abide by the UN Convention Against Torture.\u201d\n\nThe members continued, \u201cWe urge you to investigate these findings and provide an immediate explanation to Congress and to the American people for the Trump Administration\u2019s complicity in subjecting these individuals to such horrific and cruel treatment.\u201d\n\n\u201cLongstanding domestic and international law prohibit the United States from transferring any person from our jurisdiction or effective control to any place where the person would face such serious human rights violations,\u201d the members pressed. \u201cYet, the Department of Homeland Security sent these individuals to El Salvador to be detained at CECOT, and the Department of State provided $4.76 million dollars to cover the costs \u2018associated with\u2019 their detention.\u201d\n\n\u201cThese violations are a stain on the moral conscience of our country. We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that the United States is never again complicit in such horrific and unlawful behavior,\u201d the senators concluded.\n\nIn addition to Kaine, Van Hollen, Meeks, and Castro, the letter was cosigned by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Andy Kim (D-NJ), and U.S. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA-02), Sarah McBride (D-DE-AL), Bill Keating (D-MA-09), James R. Walkinshaw (D-VA-11), Dina Titus (D-NV-01), Dan Goldman (D-NY-10), Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (D-NY-07), Greg Casar (D-TX-35), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-AL), Yvette Clarke (D-NY-09), Mark Pocan (D-WI-02), Julie Johnson (D-TX-32), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Steve Cohen (D-TN-09), Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03), Maxine Dexter (D-OR-03), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37), Gabe Amo (D-RI-01), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25), Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04), Don Beyer (D-VA-08), and Grace Meng (D-NY-06).\n\nFull text of the letter is available here and below:\n\nDear Secretaries Rubio and Noem,\n\nWe write to you expressing profound concern over the findings of the recently published report titled \"You Have Arrived in Hell: Torture and Other Abuses Against Venezuelans in El Salvador\u2019s Mega Prison.\u201d This meticulously researched report, published on November 12 by Human Rights Watch and the El Salvador-based Cristosal exposes the systematic pattern of abuse and torture experienced by the 252 Venezuelan nationals the Trump Administration sent to El Salvador\u2019s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) between March and April of 2025. It also finds that the Administration failed to respect the principle of non-refoulment and questions the Administration\u2019s reliance on El Salvador\u2019s assurances that it would abide by the UN Convention Against Torture. We urge you to investigate these findings and provide an immediate explanation to Congress and to the American people for the Trump Administration\u2019s complicity in subjecting these individuals to such horrific and cruel treatment.\n\nAfter being held at CECOT for approximately four months, the 252 detainees were released to Venezuelan custody on July 18, 2025. Following their release, Human Rights Watch and Cristosal were able to locate and interview 40 of these individuals, as well as interview another 150 people with credible knowledge of their experiences to corroborate their stories.\n\nWhat they shared was horrifying and reflects treatment consistent with torture under international human rights law. Verbal abuse, denial of basic hygiene and sanitation, and inadequate food or access to healthcare were the norm. Every single one of the interviewees reported daily physical and psychological abuse for the entire duration of their detention, including suffering from severe beatings for \u201cinfractions\u201d as simple as speaking too loudly or bathing at a time that displeased prison guards. Several detainees reported incidents of sexual violence, including rape. Many of the detainees continue to suffer from physical injuries sustained during their time in CECOT, as well as from psychological trauma.\n\nThe detainees also described the grotesque treatment they suffered in connection with high-profile visits to CECOT by U.S. government officials \u2013 including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. According to the detainees, prior to Noem\u2019s March 26 visit, guards provided them with hygiene items and sheets, and mattresses. Thirty minutes after Noem\u2019s departure, detainees who had protested her arrival were beaten severely and deprived of access to water and food for the rest of the day. Detainees were also beaten after visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and after detainees mounted protests against their treatment.\n\nLongstanding domestic and international law prohibit the United States from transferring any person from our jurisdiction or effective control to any place where the person would face such serious human rights violations. Yet, the Department of Homeland Security sent these individuals to El Salvador to be detained at CECOT, and the Department of State provided $4.76 million dollars to cover the costs \u201cassociated with\u201d their detention. Given what appears to be the U.S. government\u2019s complicity in abuses against these individuals, we ask for responses to the following questions no later than November 21:\n\nWhat were the full terms of the agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador regarding the detention of these individuals?\n\nWhich U.S. government official(s) authorized the transfer of $4.76 million in State Department funding to Salvadoran security agencies in compensation for detaining these individuals, and under what authority were these funds transferred? Are there any restrictions on how El Salvador can use those funds, and how is the U.S. verifying compliance?\n\nThe Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, among other organizations, has long raised concerns regarding torture in Salvadoran prisons, including CECOT. What assessment was conducted regarding the treatment of detainees and detention standards in CECOT prior to the arrival of these individuals? What due diligence did you conduct to ensure that detainees sent to CECOT from the United States would not be subject to torture?\n\nWill the administration incorporate the findings of the report into the 2026 Human Rights Report for El Salvador?\n\nThese violations are a stain on the moral conscience of our country. We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that the United States is never again complicit in such horrific and unlawful behavior.\n\nSincerely,\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-van-hollen-meeks-and-castro-lead-colleagues-in-raising-alarm-about-use-of-us-taxpayer-funding-to-hold-people-in-el-salvadoran-torture-center"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5047150664031506, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}