The U.S. Government is Forcibly Disappearing Migrants
What are enforced disappearances?
Enforced disappearances are serious human rights violations that involve three key components:
- The arrest, detention, abduction, or other form of deprivation of liberty of a person;
- By a government actor (or an individual acting with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of the government); and
- The refusal by the government to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or the concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person. These actions work to place the person outside the protection of the law. There is no minimum time necessary to qualify as a disappearance – it can be temporary.
In its first months, the Trump-Vance administration has been forcibly disappearing migrants and people seeking asylum to indefinite imprisonment in CECOT in El Salvador, Guantanamo, Costa Rica, Panama, and while in U.S. immigration custody.
To learn more, download the full fact sheet below.
