U.S. Citizens Are Getting Caught Up in El Salvador’s Mass Arrests
Salvadoran-Americans are finding themselves behind bars, but their fate is not getting enough U.S. attention, writes a longtime Salvadoran observer.
Since March 2022, when the government of El Salvador imposed a state of emergency to reduce gang killings, the administration of President Nayib Bukele has arrested more than 64,000 people, equivalent to 2% of the country’s adult population. Millions have lost fundamental rights such as the right to legal counsel and due process—and foreign nationals are no exception. In April 2022, two Salvadoran-Americans were arrested along with dozens of others while attending a fundraiser for a man suffering from kidney failure. One of the two arrested was a high school student. After a local...
Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.
