A Nicaraguan exile who was imprisoned and tortured after participating in anti-government protests has been deported from the United States to Nicaragua, where authorities immediately detained him again, his family and lawyer said Monday.
Jeffrey Jarquín, 35, was taken into custody after stepping off a U.S. deportation flight in Managua last week and returned to the same prison where he had previously been tortured, according to a family member.
The relative spoke to The Associated Press anonymously, citing fears of government persecution. Local media first reported Jarquín’s deportation and detention.
Jarquín was a prominent participant in Nicaragua’s 2018 anti-government protests, which triggered a yearslong crackdown by co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo against dissent.
The government’s campaign against critics, civil society organizations, religious groups and others has contributed to more than 800,000 people fleeing Nicaragua, according to U.N. figures.
Osley Sallent, Jarquín’s U.S. lawyer, confirmed that he was deported after seeking asylum in the United States.
Jarquín was arrested in 2018 along with other protesters and held at El Modelo, a maximum-security prison. According to a 2019 Organization of American States report, Jarquín and other detainees were tortured in prison areas known as “tiny hell.” He was released a year later and subsequently fled to the United States.
Sallent said Jarquín had been living in Miami when he was detained. After a Louisiana court rejected his asylum case in July, he was held at Alligator Alcatraz, a Florida immigration detention facility in the Everglades that has faced reports of harsh conditions. Sallent did not provide further details about the asylum case.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked why Jarquín had been imprisoned again, a spokesperson for Nicaragua’s government replied, “Thank you very much! Hugs.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized Nicaragua’s government and described it as a dictatorship, particularly after authorities canceled elections scheduled for next year.
Last week, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Landau told the Organization of American States that the situation in Nicaragua was “intolerable.”
“Murillo and Ortega’s dictatorship has no place in our hemisphere,” he said.
Despite Washington’s criticism of Managua, ICE has increased deportations to Nicaragua in recent months, according to a Human Rights Watch report. The organization said the Trump administration deported 6,300 Nicaraguans between January and July 2026.
Human Rights Watch also documented the detention of at least eight Nicaraguan exiles whose citizenship had been revoked, a measure observers say was intended to punish government critics. Some of those detained had pending asylum applications.
Juan Pappier, deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, said Washington’s criticism of Nicaragua while deporting people who fled government repression “makes Washington look hypocritical.”
“Nicaragua has the most brutal government in the Western Hemisphere, and any government critic who is sent back is at real risk of torture or persecution,” Pappier said.