Massachusetts resident sues after experiencing torture, claiming he was unlawfully deported

CONCORD, N.H. – The ACLU of New Hampshire and Preti Flaherty LLP Tuesday filed a lawsuit seeking damages on behalf of Salvadoran Jose Daniel Guerra-Castañeda, who says he was unlawfully deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September 2019 after two federal court orders to keep him in the United States while his asylum case was pending.

Guerra-Castañeda was incarcerated in a Salvadoran prison for 297 days and stated that he experienced extensive torture, inhumane conditions, and other forms of physical and emotional trauma.

“ICE’s violation of federal court orders to keep our client in the country cost him horrifying physical and emotional trauma that will last a lifetime,” said SangYeob Kim, Immigration Staff Attorney at the ACLU of New Hampshire. “No human being should be sent by the United States to a country where they will be tortured or persecuted before they ever have an opportunity to challenge their removal. No one is above the law, and when the court issues an order, we are all bound to uphold it—especially the United States government.”

Previously, the ACLU of New Hampshire represented Guerra-Castañeda in a separate lawsuit seeking a contempt finding after he was deported. Guerra-Castañeda is now back in the United States and living in Massachusetts after having been cleared of wrongdoing.

The lawsuit argues that officials at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security should have been aware of the order to keep Guerra-Castañeda in the country, and that Guerra-Castañeda’s treatment in El Salvador was the foreseeable result of the wrongful deportation in light of the false criminal claims against him. It further details that the government’s conduct was a breach in their duty to care for those in their facilities and was the direct cause and a substantial factor in causing the unlawful deportation and subsequent torture experienced by Guerra-Castañeda.