logo
People Are "Disappearing" Since Trump Took Office. Here's What That Means.

People Are "Disappearing" Since Trump Took Office. Here's What That Means.

Yahoo07-06-2025
Last month, Frizgeralth de Jesús Cornejo Pulgar, an asylum-seeker from Venezuela, was scheduled for a routine hearing in immigration court. But as Mother Jones reports, he never made it because he'd been whisked off without due process to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) along with 230 Venezuelan immigrants.
Since President Donald Trump began to carry out what he claimed would be the 'largest deportation' campaign in U.S. history earlier this year, there have been a number of cases where immigrants like Cornejo Pulgar have just 'disappeared.'
In January, Ricardo Prada Vásquez, a Venezuelan man working a delivery job and picking up food at a McDonald's in Detroit, Michigan, was deported and 'disappeared' to El Salvador after taking a wrong turn into Canada.
'Ricardo's story by itself is incredibly tragic — and we don't know how many Ricardos there are,' Ben Levey, a staff attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center who tried to locate Prada Vásquez, told The New York Times.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ultimately confirmed to him that he had been deported but did not divulge his destination. After the abductions, families of men like Prada Vásquez search, but the names of their loved ones disappear from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's online detainee locator.
Could what's happening to immigrants under Trump be classified as 'enforced disappearances'? We spoke with academics and researchers who study how rogue states 'disappear' people.
First, what does it mean to 'disappear' a person?
According to the United Nations, an 'enforced disappearance' occurs when agents of the state (or groups acting with its authorization and support) arrest, detain, abduct or in any other way deprive a person of their liberty. The state then refuses to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the person concerned.
If you're wondering whether this is legal or illegal, it's actually neither. 'The inherent consequence of an enforced disappearance is that the person is placed outside the protection of the law, in a sort of legal limbo,' said Gabriella Citroni, an adjunct professor of international human rights law at the university of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Italy, and a chair-rapporteur of UN expert group on enforced or involuntary disappearances.
Unlike other crimes under international law, such as torture, enforced disappearances were not prohibited by a universal legally binding instrument before a UN Convention came into effect in 2010.
Disappeared people frequently include political opponents, protesters, human rights defenders and community leaders, students and members of minorities, Citroni said.
Related: "We Don't Import Food": 31 Americans Who Are Just So, So Confused About Tariffs And US Trade
'Typically, enforced disappearances are used to suppress freedom of expression or religion, or legitimate civil strife demanding democracy, as well as against persons involved in the defense of the land, natural resources, and the environment, and to fight organized crime or counter terrorism,' she said.
Enforced disappearance functions as a tool of terror in two ways, said Oscar Lopez, a journalist based in Mexico City working on a book about the origins of forced disappearance during Mexico's 'Dirty War.'
'First, the victim is deprived of due process and often subjected to torture as well as the psychological hell of not knowing what's going to happen to them and possibly fearing for their life,' he told HuffPost.
Secondly, enforced disappearance forces families and communities into a state of painful uncertainty, Lopez said. 'They don't know whether their relative is alive or dead and toggle between desperate hope and unbearable despair.'
When disappearances occur frequently enough, they can leave entire communities in a state of terror, unsure of who might be taken next, Lopez said.
What has happened to disappeared people in the past?
What happens to people involuntarily disappeared depends 'very much on the context' in which they are taken, Lopez said. But generally speaking, if the person is kept alive, they're held in state custody for an indeterminate amount of time without the ability to communicate with their family or legal counsel ― aka they're 'held incommunicado.'
If the person is killed, their bodies are often disposed of in such a way that it becomes almost impossible for them to be found.
'This can mean burying them in unmarked graves, cremating their remains, or, as happened in Latin America, throwing their corpses out to sea,' he said.
Where have enforced disappearances happened before?
Related: AOC's Viral Response About A Potential Presidential Run Has Everyone Watching, And I'm Honestly Living For It
Lopez pointed to a few examples: In Argentina, during the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, an estimated 30,000 people were disappeared. In nearby Chile, more than 1,000 people went missing under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, while in Guatemala, some 45,000 people were forcibly disappeared during the country's civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996. In North Korea, instances of enforced disappearances and abductions date back to 1950.
'There are more recent instances of enforced disappearance, too,' he said. 'In Syria, for example, it's estimated that 136,000 people were disappeared under the Assad dictatorship.'
But enforced disappearances aren't always carried out directly by state agents. said Adam Isacson, who leads border and migration work at the Washington Office on Latin America.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been disappeared each by irregular groups in Colombia and Mexico, operating with the tacit permission or even assistance of government officials.
'Sometimes, as with the anti-communist paramilitaries in Colombia and death squads in 1980s El Salvador, the officials colluded with the groups out of some ideological alliance,' he said. 'Sometimes, as with corrupt Mexican cops who assist organized crime, they do it because they profit from it.'
Could what's happening in the U.S. now with immigrants be considered 'enforced disappearances'?
In spite of existing court orders and legal challenges, the Trump administration continues its deportation policy in El Salvador, in partnership with the county's President Nayib Bukele.
Venezuelan migrants have been targeted in particular for deportation, many on unproven allegations of gang affiliation. That said, Trump has also repeatedly said he's 'all for' looking for ways to detain U.S. citizens in foreign jails.
Should we be calling what's happening now 'forced disappearances'? A report released by the UN in April suggests yes.
The incommunicado detentions appeared to involve 'enforced disappearances, contrary to international law,' the report said.
'Many detainees were unaware of their destination, their families were not informed of their detention or removal, and the U.S. and Salvadoran authorities have not published the names or legal status of the detainees,' the UN experts wrote. 'Those imprisoned in El Salvador have been denied the right to communicate with and be visited by their family members.'
Isacson agrees that we should be calling a spade a spade here.
'The only difference between that and what was done in 1970s Chile or Argentina is that loved ones have more reason to believe that their relatives are still alive and haven't been killed,' he said.
But even that certainty is not complete, he said: 'Can you say with 100% confidence that Andry Hernandez ― the gay Venezuelan stylist that disappeared two months ago ― is still alive right now? He probably is, but you absolutely cannot guarantee that, and no one will confirm it.'
The raids and deportations have certainly struck fear into American communities ― another classic characteristic of enforced disappearances. The Trump administration has openly said that its goal is to try to make life so difficult for immigrants that they 'self-deport.'
Fear of being sent to a notorious El Salvador prison, where inmates never see the light of day, plays into that goal, said Rod Abouharb, an associate professor of international relations who researches forced disappearances at the University College London.
'These raids send out a chilling effect on those individuals who may be undocumented and even those who are legally in the United States: that they may be caught up in one of these raids, disappear into the prison system, and deported to a third country they may have no connection with,' he told HuffPost.
What can regular citizens do in response to enforced disappearances?
The best thing Americans can do to object to efforts like this is to draw as much attention as possible to individual cases, Lopez said.
'Whether that's by holding protests, creating online petitions or posting on social media, ensuring that a person who the government has tried to disappear remains visible and in the public discourse can be a powerful way to draw national attention to their plight and the plight of others like them.' he said.
Isacson thinks it's important to encourage senate and congressional Democrats who've stood up and made headlines, like Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.). Back in April, Van Hollen pushed for a face-to-face meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia ― a Salvadoran native living in Maryland who was deported in March to El Salvador despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution.
'Democrats will actually help themselves politically if they keep making a lot of righteous noise about this,' he said.
Americans should write to Republican moderates who seem quietly uncomfortable about forced disappearances and might be persuaded to action, Isacson said.
'All of us to stay vocal about this,' he said. 'Keep protesting, keep writing about it and keep calling your legislators.'This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Also in In the News: People Can't Believe This "Disgusting" Donald Trump Jr. Post About Joe Biden's Cancer Diagnosis Is Real
Also in In the News: Republicans Are Calling Tim Walz "Tampon Tim," And The Backlash From Women Is Too Good Not To Share
Also in In the News: JD Vance Shared The Most Bizarre Tweet Of Him Serving "Food" As Donald Trump's Housewife
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Senator demands Musk's Starlink explain allegations it's being used by scammers
Senator demands Musk's Starlink explain allegations it's being used by scammers

Axios

timea few seconds ago

  • Axios

Senator demands Musk's Starlink explain allegations it's being used by scammers

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) on Monday demanded answers from Elon Musk about allegations that scam networks in Southeast Asia are using Starlink to facilitate fraud. The big picture: The senator in her letter cited media, UN and Treasury Department reports saying the satellite-communications network is being misused by transnational criminal groups to scam Americans. Driving the news: In a letter to Musk, the senator asked for information about SpaceX's efforts to prevent the alleged misuse of Starlink. "While SpaceX has stated that it investigates and deactivates Starlink devices in various contexts, it seemingly has not publicly acknowledged the use of Starlink for scams originating in Southeast Asia — or publicly discussed actions the company has taken in response," Hassan wrote. "Scam networks in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, however, have apparently continued to use Starlink despite service rules permitting SpaceX to terminate access for fraudulent activity." Hassan, who is on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, requested answers by Aug. 18 about whether SpaceX was aware scammers were using Starlink and if so, when they first learned about it and what they're doing about the issue.

Ex-Obama official files request for Epstein files. ‘People deserve the truth'
Ex-Obama official files request for Epstein files. ‘People deserve the truth'

Miami Herald

timea few seconds ago

  • Miami Herald

Ex-Obama official files request for Epstein files. ‘People deserve the truth'

An ex-official from former President Barack Obama's administration is seeking the release of the Epstein files. Norm Eisen, who served as Obama's ethics czar, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, asking the Department of Justice to turn over documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019. 'The American people deserve the truth — not a government willing to refashion our democracy to shield one man from accountability,' Eisen said in a July 28 news release from the Democracy Defenders Fund (DDF), a watchdog group he founded, which submitted the requests. The appeal for disclosure comes as President Donald Trump's administration has been dogged by controversy surrounding Epstein. It began in early July, when the Department of Justice issued a memo stating that no so-called 'client list' exists and that Epstein died by suicide in his New York cell — a move that led many Americans to believe a cover-up had taken place, polls show. Since then, a number of news reports have shed light on Trump's past relationship with Epstein, who once described himself as Trump's 'closest friend.' On July 17, the Wall Street Journal alleged Trump wrote a 'bawdy' birthday letter to Epstein in 2003, in which he said, 'may every day be another wonderful secret.' And, on July 23, the newspaper reported that DOJ officials had previously told Trump he was named included in the Epstein files. In response, the president and administration officials labeled both stories as 'fake,' and Trump has sued the newspaper's publisher for defamation. Trump has also asserted he is being subject to a 'witch hunt.' Around the same time, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused Obama of orchestrating a 'treasonous conspiracy' involving the manipulation of intelligence on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Critics, including Eisen, described this as an attempt to distract from the Epstein controversy. Here is what to know about Eisen's FOIA request. The FOIA request filed by the DDF asks for the DOJ to disclose any documents related to Epstein that reference Trump. 'It is now widely reported that President Trump is indeed included in the Epstein files, and that he knows it,' Eisen said in the news release. 'That makes our request for these records more urgent than ever.' Specifically, the request calls for the release of any internal communications between DOJ officials concerning their handling of any references to the president. It asks for 'any communications…discussing or explaining the process of how department officials should approach or address references to Donald Trump or Mar-a-Lago appearing in any files related to the Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell cases, including any communications that describe how to flag, categorize, or memorialize mentions of President Trump.' Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, previously said that his office had received information that FBI officials had been instructed to sift through thousands of Epstein-related materials and 'flag' any records that named Trump. This is also not the first time DDF has sought the disclosure of material related to Epstein. On July 22, the organization filed several similar FOIA requests. A FOIA request is a formal appeal made to a federal agency to access government documents or information that is not publicly available. The process was established by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), enacted in 1966. Agencies are required by law to release any requested information, though there are some exceptions, including information related to national security and personal privacy. Processing times vary depending on the request, though some can be filed on an expedited basis — as the DDF's requests were. The DDF, the White House and the Justice Department did not immediately responded to requests for comment from McClatchy News. When asked by a reporter on July 27 whether a newly announced U.S.-E.U. trade deal was at attempt to move on from the Epstein controversy, Trump said, 'You got to be kidding me.'

DAVID MARCUS: I've seen enough human suffering in homeless encampments to know Trump's new policy is right
DAVID MARCUS: I've seen enough human suffering in homeless encampments to know Trump's new policy is right

Fox News

timea minute ago

  • Fox News

DAVID MARCUS: I've seen enough human suffering in homeless encampments to know Trump's new policy is right

When the ambulance arrived in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia two years ago, an angry EMT got out and barked at the crowd, "Who called this in?" Standing next to my cameraman and above the prone body of a shirtless soul bedecked in boils and not moving, I said, "I did." He didn't say a word, he looked at me, then down the street at the dozens of strung out bodies, then back at me as if to say, "Look at all this, what do you want me to do?" I had no PEOPLE CAN BE REMOVED FROM STREETS BY CITIES, STATES IN NEW TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER Last week, President Donald Trump did answer that question with a much-welcome executive order (EO) intended to bring back civil commitment, in other words, the ability to put people who are a danger to themselves or others in institutions, even against their will. Civil libertarians are in a tizzy over the EO. They insist this is an abuse of due process and harkens to the bad old days, when hundreds of thousands of Americans were committed to mental institutions, sometimes for dubious reasons. But in examining and judging Trump's proposed policy here, it is important to understand and accept what the status quo on the ground is right now, and it is nothing short of horrific. I've traveled to homeless encampments all over America, from tucked-away Manhattan underpasses to the sprawling chaos of San Francisco's Tenderloin, a place you literally smell a block before you enter. In these encampments, your gag reflex is challenged by needles sticking out of necks and mountains of human detritus, but the real soul-crushing, existential sadness comes from knowing that these human beings are just being left to die. For decades now, Democrats have spent endless dollars on fruitless efforts to fix the homeless problem. In California alone, Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent $20 billion on failing to fix it, and only recently admitted the encampments have to go. In these encampments, your gag reflex is challenged by needles sticking out of necks and mountains of human detritus, but the real soul-crushing, existential sadness comes from knowing that these human beings are just being left to die. What the Trump administration realizes is that Democrats refuse to accept is that homelessness is, actually, two very distinct problems. One is financial, the other is a matter of addiction and mental health. Financial homelessness is fairly easy to address. The evicted mother living in her car can be given temporary housing and job assistance. She really does just need a hand up. Homelessness related to mental illness and addiction, however, isn't really a homelessness problem at all, it's an addiction and mental illness problem, and shockingly, just letting people in tents shoot up in what was once a thriving commercial district doesn't solve it. As I have wandered the streets of these hellscapes in city after city, my question hasn't really been if these people would be better off in an institution, but rather, if they weren't in a de facto open-air institution already. What does it matter if these places lack walls and locks? They are cages nonetheless, cruel prisons whether voluntary or not. As I have wandered the streets of these hellscapes in city after city, my question hasn't really been if these people would be better off in an institution, but rather, if they weren't in a de facto open-air institution already. Opponents of civil commitment insist you cannot take away people's freedom! But freedom to do what? Shoot fentanyl every day until they die on a curbside, pockets rifled by another desperate junkie? If it was your child on these broken and brutal streets of death, would you want them to be left in freedom to waste away, or would you want them taken somewhere where they could be protected and helped? Opponents will say that civil commitment can be abused. They will point to the 1950s when homosexuals were sent to institutions, but it's not 1950. We aren't going to institutionalize gay people, and we cannot be paralyzed by a bigoted past when trying to save lives today. Could there be abuses or mistakes made regarding civil commitment? Sure, but people are dying in the streets right now, and we must trust ourselves to actively help them, without stepping over the line. Annoyed with me, or not, that day in Kensington, the EMT revived the man at my feet, who, it turns out, wasn't dead, after all. Instead, he was angry, because the Narcan that woke him up also negated the high he had paid for. There are really only two sides to be on here: the side that says we are going to do everything we can to save that man's life, even against his will, or the side that condemns him to an open-air prison of his own making. President Trump has chosen wisely, and if local governments take heed, it is going to save a lot of lives across America.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store