Washington, DC (March 18, 2025) – The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) expresses grave concern regarding the recent deportation flights of Venezuelan individuals accused of gang membership without due process.
"We condemn President Trump's disparagement of Judge Boasberg along with his call for the judge's impeachment and we urge the government to uphold the rule of law and respect fundamental due process rights for all individuals regardless of immigration status," stated NACDL President Christopher A. Wellborn. "The bedrock of our legal system is the presumption of innocence and the right to due process. Accusations without evidence, the denial of access to legal counsel, and the apparent defiance of court orders not to deport accused individuals without a hearing represent a dangerous departure from these principles. Simply labeling someone a 'gang member' does not strip them of their constitutional and human rights. Neither we nor the grieving families even know the names of all the individuals whom our government has disappeared without a fair hearing to a prison hellhole in El Salvador."
NACDL emphasizes that the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 are irrelevant to this situation. These acts were designed to address threats posed by foreign governments during times of war or declared hostilities. No such conditions exist between the United States and Venezuela.
"The rush to deport individuals labeled as 'the worst of the worst' without independent judicial scrutiny or the right to a hearing undermines the fundamental tenets of due process principles upon which our justice system is built," said NACDL Executive Director Lisa M. Wayne. "This disregard for legal procedure threatens the rights of those facing deportation and erodes the integrity of our legal system. Summarily disappearing individuals incommunicado to El Salvador, an authoritarian nation where detention conditions are known to routinely violate even the minimum standards set by ICE, where individuals who are entitled to a presumption of innocence remain inaccessible to attorneys, media, or loved ones, raises profound humanitarian concerns. To disregard our moral and constitutional obligations and expose individuals to such dangerous and inhumane conditions for political expediency shocks the conscience."
NACDL – the nation's criminal defense bar association since 1958, with over 10,000 members in all 50 states – calls on the government to:
Uphold the rule of law: Ensure that all immigration proceedings adhere to constitutional and human rights standards.
Respect judicial orders: Ensure any deportations follow all judicial orders, and do not circumvent the courts.
Guarantee due process: Provide all individuals facing deportation with access to legal counsel, a fair hearing, and the opportunity to present evidence on their behalf.
Respect human rights: Ensure that all detainees are treated humanely and that their basic needs are met.
Ensure adequate detention conditions: Refrain from placing detainees in facilities that do not meet minimum standards for humane treatment, including access to clean water, adequate space, air conditioning, medical care, communication, and legal representation.
Name the detainees and provide evidence: Provide evidence for the claims that these individual detainees are gang members. Simply claiming that an unnamed group of individuals are gang members is not sufficient.
Contacts
Jonathan Hutson, NACDL Senior Director of Public Affairs and Communications, 202-480-5343 or jhutson@nacdl.org
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.
