Trump’s Deportation Black Hole
Reveal
The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7 • 8K Ratings
🗓️ 12 April 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On March 15th, federal agents rounded up more than 230 Venezuelan nationals who were then deported to El Salvador and locked up in the country’s notorious mega-prison. The Trump administration said the men belonged to a violent Venezuelan gang, but presented no evidence, and there were no court hearings in which the men could contest the allegations.
Nearly a month later, families of the Venezuelan men say they have heard nothing about their fate. It’s as if they disappeared.
“We're living in a world where you can just be rounded up with no hearing, not even an administrative hearing, nothing,” says immigration attorney Joseph Giardina. “Why couldn't you have let their cases be adjudicated? There's no logical answer other than a publicity stunt.”
This week on Reveal, Mother Jones reporters Isabela Dias and Noah Lanard speak to the families and lawyers of 10 men now imprisoned at the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. They vehemently deny allegations that the men are members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, and several provided evidence to support that.
To learn more about the Trump administration’s arrangement with the government of El Salvador, host Al Letson speaks with Carlos Dada, co-founder and director of El Faro, the Salvadaron investigative news outlet. Dada says that in addition to foreign nationals, the agreement also allows for American citizens convicted of crimes to be imprisoned in El Salvador.
As the Trump administration also targets international students who have spoken out about Israel’s war in Gaza, Reveal’s Najib Aminy reports on pro-Israel groups that are claiming to have shared lists of student protestors with the White House, and then taking credit when some of those young people are targeted for deportation.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on just one story. |
| 0:04.4 | But right now, you probably need more. |
| 0:07.1 | On Up First from NPR, we bring you three of the world's top headlines every day in under 15 minutes. |
| 0:14.0 | Because no one's story can capture all that's happening in this big, crazy world of ours on any given morning. |
| 0:20.7 | Listen now to the Up First |
| 0:22.1 | podcast from NPR. From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, this is Reveal. |
| 0:29.8 | I'm Al Leadsden. When Donald Trump ran for president, he promised to, quote, launched the largest |
| 0:36.0 | deportation program of criminals in the history of America, |
| 0:40.0 | and he vowed to do it with an obscure and rarely used law. |
| 0:44.3 | It's known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. |
| 0:47.8 | If you never heard of this wartime authority, that's because it's only been used three times before during actual wars. |
| 0:57.4 | It gives President's power to order the rapid detention and deportation of non-citizens |
| 1:02.3 | who come from countries staging a quote, invasion or predatory incursion of the U.S. |
| 1:08.0 | The last time this country invoked the Alien Enemies Act was in World War II when the law |
| 1:14.3 | was used to justify the creation of Japanese internment camps, something the U.S. has since |
| 1:20.5 | paid reparations for. |
| 1:22.8 | This time around, it led to the deportations of Venezuelan men to a notorious prison in El Salvador. |
| 1:29.3 | The president took action saying the U.S. is being invaded by the Venezuelan gang Trenday Aragua. |
| 1:36.3 | At a press conference in March, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt alleged that all of the men deported were part of the gang. |
| 1:44.5 | These heinous monsters were extracted and removed to El Salvador, |
| 1:48.5 | while they will no longer be able to pose any threats to the American public. |
| 1:53.5 | But she provided no proof. |
... |
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