Among all the political atrocities committed by the second Trump administration — and there are many — perhaps the most egregious, so far, is the plane loads of Venezuelan men sent to an infamous mega-prison in El Salvador called the Center for Terrorism Confinement (aka Cecot) in direct contravention of a federal judge's order. The men have disappeared into the prison and no one is even sure who all of them are much less if they are actually members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang that President Trump claims has "invaded" the United States. But reports are starting to emerge that this was a sloppy operation that swept up some innocent people. One can only imagine what's happening to them in that dystopian hellhole of a prison.
Over the weekend TIME published a first-person account by photojournalist Philip Holsinger of the Venezuelans' arrival and processing in El Salvador the week before. We had seen the grotesque propaganda video produced by the Salvadoran government (and celebrated by the White House) but this is the first time we've heard about their treatment from someone who was on the ground. It is harrowing, to say the least.
