Venezuelan man files $1.3 million wrongful deportation lawsuit against DHS
A Venezuelan man who spent months in a Salvadoran terrorist prison after being deported from the United States last year has filed a $1.3 million lawsuit, claiming he was a victim of President Trump’s hateful rhetoric and illegal use of the Alien Enemies Act.
Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel was among the migrants shipped out on March 15, 2025, in Mr. Trump’s first use of the 1798 law allowing rapid expulsions of people considered enemies of America.
Federal officials said the deported Venezuelans were part of the Tren de Aragua, a gang that the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization. But Mr. Rengel claims he was misidentified and never given a chance to dispute the allegations before being sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Containment Center, or CECOT.
He spent four months there before El Salvador and Venezuela reached a deal to exchange Mr. Rengel and others.
“What happened to Adrián Rengel is government-sanctioned torture and a refusal to recognize his humanity because he happens to be an immigrant. He deserves his trial,” said Juan Proano, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is participating in Mr. Rengel’s trial.
These March 15 flights have become a lasting problem for Mr. Trump and his team.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is weighing whether to bring criminal contempt charges against the administration, which he says defied his orders to ground the planes or turn them away mid-flight.
Mr. Rengel said the government’s refusal to comply with the order, along with his misidentification as a gang member, gives him grounds to sue for negligence, false imprisonment and unlawful denial of civil rights.
In his trial, he said he was the victim of “physical and psychological torture” at CECOT.
Mr. Rengel, 28, arrived in the United States in 2023. He took advantage of one of the Biden administration’s legally dubious “parole” programs to secure early release.
A year later, he applied for Temporary Protected Status, a deportation amnesty program that the Biden administration expanded to Venezuela.
He was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on March 13, 2025 – his birthday – and was told that his tattoos identified him as a TdA member. He says his tattoos honor his mother and daughter and also depict a barbershop and a tiger — neither of which, he says, are meant to honor TdA.
He said he was told he would be sent back to Venezuela. He was put on a plane with the windows closed and they landed in San Salvador.
In the lawsuit, he claims ICE allowed Salvadoran agents to board the plane and beat migrants to get them off the plane.
Homeland Security has denied any brutal treatment.
