Families of Venezuelan deportees held in El Salvador’s infamous Cecot prison can petition the Salvadoran government for their release – but the fruitfulness of that process is an open question in a country accused of arbitrary detention by rights groups and even the US State Department.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, where they are being held in a maximum security mega-prison called the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).

El Salvador's Cecot mega prison - the center for terrorism confinement is considered the largest prison in the Americas with a capacity of 40,000 inmates and has been th biggest symbol in the Latin American country's controversial crackdown on domestic crime.