For seven months, there was no news of Irvin Quintanilla, a 24-year-old undocumented Salvadoran who was deported to El Salvador in March, along with dozens of Venezuelans, to the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT). Under pressure from inquiries by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Nayib Bukele’s government reported on October 20 that the young man is “in custody” in a prison farm in the west of the country and is allegedly in good health.
The state’s response contradicts its previous assertions in August and September, when it stated it had found no information on Irvin’s entry into the country. “After verifying official records and as a result of search procedures, it has been determined that Irvin Jevoanny García Quintanilla remains in custody at the Santa Ana Industrial Center for Sentence Enforcement and Rehabilitation,” the brief states.
The Bukele government has a declining relationship with the IACHR. Amid an investigation into the state of exception, the government blocked and delayed the Commission’s report and then accused it of bias for receiving funding from philanthropic organizations that in turn sponsor entities that monitor human rights in El Salvador. The government has also failed to send representatives to five of the 13 hearings that the IACHR has held on El Salvador since 2019.
The Santa Ana Industrial Center is often portrayed in official propaganda as a prison where inmates work in various trades. This is where Kilmar Ábrego, a Salvadoran man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, and whom Bukele later said would not return to the United States, was also held.
Irvin’s whereabouts are now known thanks to the precautionary measures issued by the IACHR three weeks ago. The measures urged the Bukele administration to search for Irvin, report on his condition, and coordinate with the family on measures to be taken to ensure his safety. The IACHR had given the government until October 18 to respond to the measures, but the state missed the deadline by two days. The lawyer confirmed that the state had not yet contacted the family.
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When it issued the measures on October 2, the IACHR concluded that there were indications to consider that Irvin was at risk because he was missing, and that finding him was urgent, especially after almost seven months of deportation. The first requests for information on his whereabouts were made by his lawyer and family in April of this year, in the first weeks after his disappearance.
The Salvadoran government, as it did in August, stated that in this case there is no risk to Irvin and that it is not an urgent case warranting precautionary measures. The Bukele administration also complained that it was being asked to explain a detention carried out by the United States government, not El Salvador.
Now the family will seek Irvin’s release, as they claim he has committed no crime in El Salvador. Last May, Irvin’s lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice in order to locate him. So far, the Chamber has not even admitted the petition. This is not an isolated case. Of the 7,542 habeas corpus petitions filed with the Chamber since the start of the state of exception until October 2025, 87.6 percent have been rejected, according to La Prensa Gráfica.
Irvin was arrested in December 2024 in a parking lot in Irving, Texas. According to his lawyer, he was arrested for carrying a small amount of marijuana. The investigation into this incident was never concluded, and it was never determined whether the marijuana was for personal use, which is not a crime, or for sale. While in custody, his deportation process, which had been ongoing since October when he failed to appear before a judge after requesting asylum, was resumed.
The IACHR notified Irvin's lawyer of the state’s response last Thursday, three days after the date of the letter. “The state reiterates that detention standards are being met and his personal integrity is guaranteed,” reads the government’s brief response. “Like all prisoners in the Salvadoran prison system, he is guaranteed healthy food, prepared under defined quality standards, and receives periodic health evaluations and is provided with personal hygiene and welfare products.”
The IACHR has attempted to corroborate the state’s version of prison conditions but, despite several requests, has been unable to visit the country. Meanwhile, the Commission, civil society organizations, and the national and foreign press have documented dozens of testimonies from former prisoners and relatives of people who were imprisoned, reporting murders, torture, and physical abuse in prisons, as well as overcrowding causing numerous diseases.
“In relation to his current state and health conditions, he does not present any symptoms or ailments that affect his health, so he is healthy,” the state said of Irvin Quintanilla.
The family’s lawyer also requested this Monday, the 27th, that the Constitutional Chamber confirm the information provided by the state to the Inter-American Commission.
Irvin and other Venezuelans were sent to CECOT because Bukele offered that prison to Trump to receive the migrants he wanted to expel. In exchange, Bukele asked the United States to return to El Salvador nine leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha-13 gang on trial in New York. According to the Washington Post, these gang members had become informants for the U.S. justice system and were willing to reveal the details of the secret and illegal negotiation reached with Bukele to reduce homicides in the country and show him as an effective government in terms of security. That is why Bukele wanted them back in El Salvador.
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Trump accused the Venezuelans of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang. They remained in CECOT until July, when the Venezuelans were repatriated in an exchange between the Trump administration and the Caracas regime, which released several Americans from its prisons. Very little was known about the Salvadorans. In addition to Irvin, there are three other cases of Salvadorans whose families have requested precautionary measures from the IACHR accusing the state of forced disappearance. Irvin’s case is the only one in which the state has given any information about his confinement.
In these cases, too, the lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition in May, challenging the silence of Salvadoran institutions. The state again complained that it is being held responsible for a situation that the United States —not El Salvador— created when it arrested the Salvadoran men.