Nicaraguan Exile Deported by U.S. Faces Immediate Re-Imprisonment

A Nicaraguan exile, who had previously been imprisoned and tortured for protesting against his government, was deported by the United States only to be immediately re-imprisoned by authorities in Nicaragua. The 35-year-old, identified as Jeffrey Jarquín, was taken into custody by authorities immediately after disembarking from a U.S. deportation flight in Managua, Nicaragua's capital, according to family members and his lawyer.

Jarquín, who was a prominent participant in anti-government protests in 2018, was initially detained that year along with other demonstrators. He spent a year in a maximum-security prison known as El Modelo, where he and others were subjected to torture in chambers described as "tiny hell," according to a 2019 report by the Organization of American States. He fled to the U.S. after his release.

His lawyer in the U.S., Osley Sallent, confirmed that Jarquín had sought asylum in the United States. Before his asylum case was rejected by a Louisiana court in July, Jarquín was held at the Florida immigration detention center in the Everglades, often referred to as "Alligator Alcatraz," which has been the subject of reports concerning harsh conditions.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Nicaragua's government responded to an inquiry about Jarquín's re-imprisonment with a terse, "Thank you very much! Hugs."

The U.S. administration has been critical of the Nicaraguan government, labeling it a dictatorship, particularly following the cancellation of upcoming elections by authorities there. Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Landau recently stated that the situation in Nicaragua was "intolerable" and that the "Murillo and Ortega’s dictatorship has no place in our hemisphere."

Despite these criticisms, a Human Rights Watch report indicated that ICE has increased deportations to Nicaragua in recent months. Between January and July of an unspecified year, the report states that ICE deported 6,300 Nicaraguans. The organization also documented that ICE had detained at least eight Nicaraguan exiles who had been stripped of their citizenship, a move seen by observers as a punitive measure against critics. Some of these detained individuals had pending asylum applications.

Juan Pappier, deputy director of the Americas for Human Rights Watch, described the situation as making Washington appear hypocritical, given the simultaneous criticism of Nicaragua's government and the deportation of individuals fleeing its repression. Pappier warned that any government critic returned to Nicaragua faces a "real risk of torture or persecution" from what he called the "most brutal government in the Western Hemisphere."