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Trump Sent Them to a Notorious Prison. Torture Followed.

Warning: This episode mentions suicide. In March, the U.S. government sent more than 200 Venezuelan men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Over four months, the men said they endured physical, mental and sexual abuse. Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief at The New York Times, interviewed 40 of these prisoners. She explains what she found out about this part of President Trump’s program of mass deportation.
Duration
39m
Broadcast on
08 Dec 2025
Audio Format
other

Warning: This episode mentions suicide.

In March, the U.S. government sent more than 200 Venezuelan men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Over four months, the men said they endured physical, mental and sexual abuse.

Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief at The New York Times, interviewed 40 of these prisoners. She explains what she found out about this part of President Trump’s program of mass deportation.

Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Bogotá, Colombia.

Background reading: 

Photo: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. From New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. This is The Daily. For four months, hundreds of men from Venezuela said they endured physical abuse. Mental abuse. And sexual abuse. And sexual abuse. Inside a notorious prison. Today, what my colleague, Julie Turkowitz, found actually happened inside that prison. And why many now see it as perhaps the darkest chapter of all in President Trump's program of mass deportation. It's Monday, December 8th. Julie, you have spent the past many months investigating the plight of these roughly 200 Venezuelan nationals who were deported by the Trump administration from the U.S. to a prison in El Salvador. And along the way, you have broke story after story about who they are, what they did or didn't do. And now you bring us your latest investigation. So tell us what animated that, latest probe and what you found. So I think that so many listeners remember back in March when these 250 or so and when were put on planes to this foreign prison in El Salvador accused summarily without trials of being terrorists. And then in a very, very public way, taken off the planes, bent at the waist, shackled, shaved and put in this maximum security prison in El Salvador. It was the most indelible image in President Trump's mass deportation campaign because it felt the most unfamiliar and kind of brutal. - Absolutely. And I think that it was meant to send a message.

Transcription truncated.

Warning: This episode mentions suicide. In March, the U.S. government sent more than 200 Venezuelan men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Over four months, the men said they endured physical, mental and sexual abuse. Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief at The New York Times, interviewed 40 of these prisoners. She explains what she found out about this part of President Trump’s program of mass deportation.