A Venezuelan national is suing the United States after he was one of hundreds of people deported to El Salvador last year.
In March 2025, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to remove roughly 250 Venezuelan men to El Salvador even when a federal judge attempted to stop the flights. Under a deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, the men were sent to the country’s CECOT mega-prison and held without trial.
Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel’s lawsuit claims he came to the United States legally as an asylum seeker and was waiting for an immigration hearing. He was “seeking to do everything by the book,” but claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers ignored his paperwork and falsely labeled him as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang because of his tattoos.
The plaintiff “immediately rebutted that identification,” saying he has never been tied to TdA or any other gang.
🔴 A Deportee Just Filed a $1.3 Million Lawsuit Against the United States.
— Raheem J. Kassam (@RaheemKassam) March 24, 2026
📰 Venezuelan national Neiyerver Adrián Leon Rengel, 28, has filed a lawsuit in the United States seeking $1.3 million in damages for the mistreatment he claims he suffered during four months of… pic.twitter.com/IHOructYU8
Things went downhill from there, according to the complaint. He said he was “misled into thinking he was being sent to his country of origin,” but instead was flown to El Salvador. When the plane landed, he realized “he was in fact in a foreign land,” the lawsuit states.
Leon Rengel was taken to CECOT prison even though a court order should have stopped his removal. He alleges that U.S. officials denied him due process, lied about where they were sending him, and placed him in a prison system known for rampant human rights abuses.
The plaintiff “languished in CECOT” for four months, where he experienced beatings, humiliation, lack of medical care, constant fear, and emotional trauma. He is seeking $1.3 million in damages plus attorneys’ fees.
CBS News reported that Leon Rengel was freed during a prisoner swap.
Leon Rengel was one of several hundred Venezuelan men deported by the U.S. to El Salvador, where they were held incommunicado in CECOT for roughly four months. They were freed in a prisoner swap in July 2025.
A report by researchers at Human Rights Watch found the CECOT prisoners endured months of physical and psychological abuse, including some cases of sexual assault. It determined that their time in CECOT amounted to "arbitrary detention" and "torture" under international law.
Leon Rengel's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks the court to award him at least $1.3 million for what his lawyers say was false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Leon Rengel used a Biden administration program for asylum seekers called CBP One after making the trek through the Darién Gap and several Latin American countries in 2023. He entered the U.S. through an official entry point with the government’s permission.
After arriving in the U.S., he was arrested once after a traffic stop and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia in Texas, according to court documents. He paid a small fine for the offense and has no other criminal record.
The authorities claimed he was a Tren de Aragua member because he had a tattoo of a lion with a hair clipper in its mouth on his left hand. He said he worked as a barber in the U.S. and Venezuela, but does not have any gang ties.
In a statement to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security claimed Leon Rengel had ties to the gang, but did not provide evidence of this, saying that it would “undermine” national security.
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