HUMSI — Human Security Initiative

Human Impact Project

A living database documenting reported immigration enforcement incidents and their human impact.

Ex-Ecuadorian minister deported despite torture protection, now abused in jail

Sep 20, 2026·Location: Miami, FL

Country of origin: Ecuador

Ex-Ecuadorian minister deported despite torture protection, now abused in jail
Photo via notus.org

José Serrano Salgado, Ecuador's former interior minister under President Rafael Correa, fled to Miami in 2021 and later applied for asylum. ICE arrested him outside his Miami home in mid-2025, and he spent nearly a year detained at Krome North Service Processing Center, where a source said he lost about 25 pounds and his prediabetes worsened into diabetes. In May 2026, an immigration judge denied his asylum claim but granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture after he showed he faced torture if returned to Ecuador. Three Trump-appointed appeals judges reversed that protection within a day of reviewing the case, and Serrano was deported to Ecuador within hours, sent on a private jet in late August 2026. He now faces murder charges over the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and is held in a maximum-security prison, where a source said he has been abused, including having his fingernails smashed, being denied food, and being told footage of him stripped naked would be shared with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, a political rival of his former boss.

Timeline

Sep 20, 2026—Further reporting detailed the appeals process and conditions of his detention in Ecuador
Sep 4, 2026—Reports emerged that he is being abused in an Ecuadorian jail and faces murder charges
Aug 1, 2026—Appeals judges reversed the torture-protection ruling and ICE deported him to Ecuador on a private jet
May 1, 2026—Immigration judge denied asylum but granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture
Jan 1, 2025—ICE agents arrested him outside his Miami home for overstaying his visa
Jan 1, 2021—Fled to Miami on a tourist visa
Suggest a correction, comment, or update

Sources

More incidents in Florida