The New Guantánamo: How CECOT Revives an Era of Due Process Denial in Immigration Enforcement

This paper explores the status of due process rights for two different constitutionally protected groups through a comparative legal analysis of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (GTMO) and the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) in El Salvador. GTMO was rapidly established months after the horrific terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and emerged as a keystone of American counterterrorism strategy in the War on Terror. In the modern day, the Trump Administration is using CECOT as an extension of anti-immigration enforcement, specifically as a tool in the campaign to root out illegal aliens from the United States. Both facilities, though unique in time and location, reflect a shared pattern of executive overreach that blurs the lines of constitutionally protected principles and national security. Drawing from landmark cases that gradually set the precedent for detainee rights at GTMO, this paper compares GTMO to contemporary detention practices at CECOT with respect to the right to due process. Ultimately, this analysis reveals that the very mechanisms that once permitted previous administrations’ violation of constitutional principles to secure the homeland are the foundational basis for the Trump Administration’s denial of due process to undocumented immigrants. This pattern highlights an alarming continuity in American counterterrorism strategy that prioritizes perceived threats over individual liberties.