At least eight Nicaraguans exiled in the United States and "deprived of their nationality" by the Executive of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have been arrested by U.S. immigration authorities, some of them in the midst of asylum proceedings, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The organization warns that they could be sent to third countries where they would again be exposed to persecution or torture.
Seven of the detainees were part of the group of 222 political prisoners that Managua expelled to the United States on February 9, 2023. After labeling them as "traitors," the Nicaraguan government stripped them of their nationality. Once on U.S. soil, Washington granted them a residency permit for humanitarian reasons valid for two years.
The eighth arrested is journalist Luis Galeano, whose nationality was revoked six days later, along with that of 93 other opponents of the regime. Sources familiar with the cases have informed HRW that at least four of these individuals had asylum applications still pending.
"After offering refuge to these critics of the Nicaraguan government just three years ago, the United States is now detaining them and threatening to deport them," said the director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, Juanita Goebertus.
"International Law prohibits the United States from returning anyone to face the threat of persecution or torture. U.S. authorities should not attempt to send these men back into danger," she emphasized.
Detentions during the immigration process
At least two of the eight Nicaraguans were detained between April and September 2026 while attending a court hearing or an interview related to their asylum cases. According to HRW, five of the eight are currently still in immigration custody.
The NGO took statements in September from the lawyer of two of them and from the wife of a third. Additionally, it verified through the Online Detained Locator System of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that four were still being held by this U.S. agency.
HRW also consulted the automated case information system of the Executive Office for Immigration Review to learn the status of the open proceedings. The detention of another affected individual has been reported by the press, although the organization points out that it has not been able to independently verify it.
Two more men have been released. Journalist Luis Galeano was granted bail on September 26, while Marvin Castellón Ubilla was released in July, after having spent more than two months in an ICE detention center.
Two of the eight Nicaraguans were convicted in their country for drug-related offenses, but Nicaraguan human rights organizations maintain that these processes were of a political nature. In another case, a citizen was prosecuted in the United States for illegal possession of a regulated firearm and was subsequently placed on probation, according to a court ruling analyzed by HRW.
The case of journalist Luis Galeano
Galeano, 48 years old, was arrested by ICE on September 14 and an immigration judge granted him bail on the 23rd of that same month, leaving the Krome immigration detention center in Miami three days later, where he had been held.
His family has explained to HRW that Galeano submitted his asylum application in June 2019 and that he had a work permit in the United States, a country where he has no criminal record. His next hearing before the immigration court is scheduled for October 27.
The Krome center has been the subject of strong criticism from Human Rights Watch, which has documented conditions it describes as "abusive"; among them, the prolonged stay in overcrowded intake cells and subjected to very low temperatures, sometimes without access to bedding.
These complaints are joined by the conclusions of a surprise inspection carried out in May 2025, the results of which were made public on September 11 by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security. The report detected violations regarding medical care and use of force, including the improper use of a chokehold technique against a detainee.
Hundreds of Nicaraguans without nationality
Human Rights Watch frames these episodes in the repression exercised by Nicaraguan authorities in recent years and argues that Nicaragua has transformed, under the mandate of Ortega and Murillo, into one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Western Hemisphere. People critical of the government often face imprisonment, exile, or deprivation of nationality.
The Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners, a Nicaraguan entity for the defense of Human Rights, counted in September of this year at least 68 political prisoners, of which 31 were considered victims of forced disappearance.
Between February 2023 and September 2024, Nicaraguan authorities revoked the nationality of 452 people and proceeded with the confiscation of their assets. Among them were the 222 political prisoners sent to the United States in February 2023.
At the same time, the U.S. administration of Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on numerous Nicaraguan officials for their alleged involvement in internal repression.
Surge of deportations from the United States
At the same time, the expulsions of Nicaraguans from the United States have notably increased. An analysis by HRW based on data from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates that more than 6,300 Nicaraguan citizens were deported between January and July 2026, compared to the 3,323 recorded in the same period of 2025.
Media consulted by the international organization have reported that some of the returnees have been subjected to surveillance after their return to the country.
The U.S. government has also chosen to send Nicaraguans to third countries. According to HRW's analysis based on information from ICE, since January 2025 more than 1,100 Nicaraguans have been transferred to other countries, mainly Mexico (864 people), El Salvador (63), Guatemala (50), and Honduras (49).
The UN denounces a network against exiles
The risk for those who are deported to neighboring countries is also linked to external espionage activities attributed to the Managua government.
UN experts reported in March the existence of a transnational structure of surveillance and intelligence aimed at locating, controlling, and persecuting exiled Nicaraguans, and documented at least a dozen murders or attempted murders against government critics abroad, including that of former Nicaraguan Army major Roberto Samcam, in June 2025 in Costa Rica.
In this context, HRW warns that the transfer of Nicaraguan exiles to Honduras or other countries in the region could facilitate their return within reach of the authorities they fled from.
In the same line, the organization demands that the United States refrain from deporting to Nicaragua those who may face persecution or torture there, and asks the U.S. Congress to require the Department of Homeland Security detailed information about Nicaraguans stripped of their nationality by Managua who remain in ICE custody.