What are enforced disappearances under international law?
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.
How is the U.S. government forcibly disappearing migrants?
→ Disappearances of migrants to El Salvador
Beginning in March 2025, the Trump administration renditioned about 252 Venezuelan and 32 Salvadoran migrants to a high-security prison notorious for its inhumane conditions in El Salvador, the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). These migrants, who were detained in ICE custody, suddenly vanished from the ICE detainee locator system. They were disappeared without an opportunity to notify relatives, speak with counsel, or contest the rendition.
→ Disappearances of migrants to Costa Rica and Panama
In February 2025, the Trump administration transferred nearly 500 migrants who had been detained in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including pregnant women and families with young children, to Costa Rica and Panama under agreements with those countries that have not been made public. This included asylum seekers fleeing Afghanistan, China, Ghana, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, among other countries. Many were transferred to Costa Rica and Panama without a screening on their asylum claim, in violation of U.S. law.
→ Disappearances of migrants while in CBP and ICE detention
Immigrants and asylum seekers are regularly unfindable while in U.S. immigration custody for varying periods of time. There is no mechanism for the public to track where in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody a person is detained, confirm their whereabouts with the government, visit the facility, or call the person who is detained, leaving desperate family members in the United States and abroad unable to find their loved ones and know whether they are safe. People also suffer enforced disappearances while in ICE detention, including due to failures to update the locator, denial of phone access for prolonged periods, transfers to other detention centers, and unprecedented disappearances of people from U.S. detention centers to El Salvador, Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere.
→ Disappearances of migrants to Guantanamo
In February 2025, for the first time in history, the United States began transferring migrants from U.S. immigration detention to the military prison and migrant detention center in Guantanamo Bay. The administration has transferred hundreds of people to Guantanamo, mostly Venezuelan and Nicaraguan migrants, and subsequently removed many to Venezuela as well as at least one person to the CECOT in El Salvador. When the government first began disappearing migrants to Guantanamo, they were not searchable in the ICE detainee locator and frantic loved ones were often unable to confirm their whereabouts. While the ICE locator now typically reflects when someone is detained in Guantanamo, no notice is given to a person’s attorney or loved ones before their transfer there while severe barriers in access to counsel and horrific conditions of confinement persist.
The U.S. Government Must Cease The Forced Disappearances of Migrants
The Trump administration’s disappearance of migrants who are in U.S. immigration detention or transferred, expelled, or renditioned to CECOT in El Salvador, Guantanamo, and other places violate constitutional, treaty, and statutory due process and human rights obligations.
These include the right to life, right to personal integrity, right to family unity, and rights to not be subjected to enforced disappearances, refoulement, arbitrary detention, and torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment.
How to check if a loved one is in U.S. immigration detention?
The Online Detainee Locator system shows records of persons 18 years and older who are currently detained in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility or have been in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody for more than 48 hours. Check here.
Human Rights First and Partners Submit Report to the United Nations on the Disappearances of Migrants
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) issued General Allegations to the U.S. government under the Biden administration for its practice of disappearing migrants in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody and in Coast Guard custody during maritime interdictions given individuals weren’t searchable and reported being held incommunicado. The Working Group also raised concerns regarding U.S. border policies that expelled or returned third-country migrants to Mexico where they were then subjected to enforced disappearances. After the Working Group issued the General Allegations, in June 2024 the Biden administration updated the ICE detainee locator to include individuals who have been in CBP custody for more than 48 hours, but significant limitations persist.
In April 2025, Human Rights First and thirteen immigrants’ rights organizations submitted a written statement to the Working Group documenting the escalation of enforced disappearances of migrants and asylum seekers under the Trump administration. Learn more here.