Activists hold signs with the names of some of the 222 former prisoners released and expelled by the Nicaraguan government, as they await their arrival at Dulles International Airport, Virginia, United States, February 9, 2023.
(Washington, DC) – US immigration authorities have detained at least eight Nicaraguan exiles whom the Ortega-Murillo government has stripped of their nationality, including some with pending asylum claims, Human Rights Watch said today.
Seven of the people detained were among 222 political prisoners whom the Nicaraguan government expelled to the United States, declared “traitors,” and stripped of their nationality on February 9, 2023. The US government granted them humanitarian parole for two years. The eighth, Luis Galeano, a journalist, was stripped of his nationality on February 15, 2023, along with 93 other government critics. People with knowledge of their cases told Human Rights Watch that at least four had pending asylum claims.
“After offering refuge to these critics of the Nicaraguan government just three years ago, the United States is now detaining and threatening to deport them,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “International law prohibits the United States from returning anyone to face the threat of persecution or torture. US authorities should not be trying to send these men back into danger.”
At least two of the eight were arrested during a court appointment or asylum interview between April and September 2026.
It appears that five of the eight men are still in detention. In September 2026, Human Rights Watch interviewed the legal representative of two of the detainees and the wife of a third. Human Rights Watch also confirmed through the Online Detainee Locator System, maintained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), that four of the men are currently in ICE custody and
