Removal and Detention Chronology
José Serrano Salgado — May 2021 to September 2026
May 2021
Mr. Serrano entered the United States on a tourist visa.
Source: Press reporting
October 2021
Mr. Serrano filed an application for political asylum in the United States, citing his work against organised crime as Minister of the Interior.
Source: Press reporting; counsel
17 June 2024
In an article published by The New Yorker, President Daniel Noboa said he had asked United States authorities to arrest Mr. Serrano, and that they had so far declined.
Source: Jon Lee Anderson, "Ecuador's Risky War on Narcos," The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
31 July 2025
In Quito, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Ecuador's Minister of the Interior John Reimberg signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a law enforcement officer liaison exchange programme between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Ecuador's National Police. The programme embeds an Ecuadorian law enforcement liaison within CBP's National Targeting Center. Ecuadorian accounts of the agreement describe it as also covering biometric data, coordination on extraditions, and collaboration in criminal investigations.
Human Rights Watch later examined this cooperation and raised questions about abuses arising from it. See the entry for 21 July 2026.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 1 August 2025; Associated Press, 31 July 2025
7 August 2025
Mr. Serrano was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami. The reason given for the arrest was a visa overstay. His asylum application, filed in October 2021, was pending at the time.
Source: Press reporting; counsel
18 August 2025
Mr. Serrano's first immigration hearing in the United States was cancelled.
The same day, Ecuador's Prosecutor's Office asked a judge to convene a formulación de cargos hearing against Mr. Serrano, Daniel Salcedo, Ronny Aleaga and Xavier Jordán as alleged intellectual authors of the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio. The request was made in case No. 17294-2025-00782, which the Prosecutor's Office named Magnicidio FV. No statement had been taken from Mr. Serrano beforehand. The hearing was set for 26 August and held on 3 September 2025.
Source: Press reporting; Fiscalía General del Estado statement, 18 August 2025
3 September 2025
Members of the United States House of Representatives wrote to U.S. authorities seeking clarification regarding Mr. Serrano's detention.
That same day in Quito, at the formulación de cargos hearing, Prosecutor Ana Hidalgo asked Judge María Daniela Ayala to order preventive detention for all four accused. The judge granted the request in part. She ordered preventive detention for two, and for Mr. Serrano and Xavier Jordán she ordered instead that they report periodically to an Ecuadorian consulate in the United States.
During the hearing the judge told the Prosecutor's Office that it could not act as the enforcement arm of the government of the day.
Under Ecuadorian procedure, formulación de cargos opens a ninety-day investigative phase. It is not equivalent to an indictment in the United States, which requires an evidentiary showing.
Source: Press reporting; Consejo de la Judicatura, session 061-2026, 21 May 2026
September 2025
Judge María Daniela Ayala, who had declined the prosecution's request for Mr. Serrano's preventive detention, was suspended for three months by Ecuador's Council of the Judiciary.
Source: Press reporting; judiciary materials
19 November 2025
Ecuador's Minister of the Interior, John Reimberg, filed a formal complaint against Judge María Daniela Ayala Álvarez, alleging dolus, manifest negligence, or inexcusable error in the exercise of her judicial functions. The complaint followed her ruling in the Villavicencio case.
On the same date, Marcelo Lasso, a protected witness in the Villavicencio case, gave sworn testimony in United States civil proceedings that, while he was living in Bolivia in 2025, representatives of Ecuador's Prosecutor's Office contacted him and told him a detention order would be activated against him unless he gave false testimony. He testified that Captain Adrián Salazar, a police officer assigned to the investigation, directed what he was to say, that this was coordinated with Prosecutor Ana Hidalgo, that he received USD 4,000 in exchange for giving false testimony, and that the detention order against him was lifted as part of the arrangement.
A forensic examination of his phone and email account, commissioned by a party to that litigation, reports communications consistent with those allegations. Neither forms part of the Ecuadorian case file.
Source: Ecuadorian court record; sworn deposition and expert report filed in United States civil proceedings
1 December 2025
Prosecutor Ana Hidalgo asked Judge Luz María Ortiz to set a date to link three leaders of the criminal organisation Los Lobos to the case: Wilmer Geovanny Chavarría Barré, known as Pipo; Ángel Esteban Aguilar, known as Lobo Menor; and Luis Arboleda, known as Gordo Luis. The vinculación would extend the investigative phase by thirty days.
One of the three had already been convicted of murdering Mr. Serrano's brother. Ángel Esteban Aguilar was sentenced to twenty years for the 2012 killing of the journalist Juan Antonio Serrano. He was released before completing the sentence.
Wilmer Chavarría, the organisation's leader, was believed to have died in 2021. He was arrested alive in Málaga, Spain, on 16 November 2025, two weeks before this request. Ecuador's Prosecutor's Office asked that a sixteen-year sentence, set aside on documentation of his death, be reactivated.
Luis Arboleda is held at CPL N.º 1 Santa Elena.
Source: Press reporting, 1 and 2 December 2025; EFE via SWI swissinfo.ch, 16 November 2025
3 December 2025
Judge Luz María Ortiz set the vinculación hearing for 12 December 2025.
Source: Press reporting, 3 December 2025
26 December 2025
The hearing was not held. Judge Geovanny Freire, standing in for Judge Ortiz, deferred it to 28 January 2026.
Source: Press reporting
10 February 2026
The vinculación hearing was held. All three were linked to the case and preventive detention was ordered for each. The proceedings were declared reserved.
Source: Press reporting, 10 February 2026
13 May 2026
U.S. Immigration Judge Romy Lerner found that José Serrano faced a risk of torture if returned to Ecuador, and granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture.
Source: EOIR order; counsel
21 May 2026
Ecuador's Consejo de la Judicatura dismissed Judge María Daniela Ayala from the bench in session 061-2026, finding the very serious offence of dolus in her handling of the Villavicencio case. She had declined to order preventive detention for Mr. Serrano at the formulación de cargos hearing.
Source: Consejo de la Judicatura, session 061-2026, 21 May 2026
21 July 2026
Human Rights Watch published a 94-page report on security cooperation between the United States and Ecuador. It documents torture, arbitrary detention, and drone attacks on fishing vessels, and finds that the two governments are deepening that relationship while both engage in serious human rights violations. Neither has disclosed what safeguards exist. The report covers the July 2025 liaison agreement.
24 August 2026
Press reporting described families and human rights advocates seeking judicial protection regarding visits, communication, and health information for detainees held at El Encuentro.
Source: Press report
26 August 2026
The Pleno del Consejo de la Judicatura issued Resolución PCJ-MPS-016-2026, suspending two of the three judges of the Sala Multicompetente of the Corte Provincial de Justicia de Santa Elena for up to three months. Disciplinary file No. DP24001-2026-0050.
Source: Consejo de la Judicatura resolution
28 August 2026 — the day of the removal
3:40–5:40 p.m. ET
Mr. Serrano spoke by telephone with his daughter while he remained detained at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami. The call ended at approximately 5:40 p.m. when he was called to dinner. This was the family's last contact with him before his removal.
Source: Family account
~5:50 p.m. ET
ICE officers removed Mr. Serrano from his unit at Krome. The family learned of the movement that evening. The notification did not come from ICE or any U.S. authority.
Source: Family account
On or around 7:48 p.m. ET
Mr. Serrano was removed from the United States aboard a chartered private aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 350 registered N41VD, departing Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (KOPF) for José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport, Guayaquil (SEGU).
The signed crew and passenger manifest for the flight lists five passengers, Mr. Serrano and four others, together with two flight crew. No cargo was manifested.
Source: Crew and Passenger Manifest, General Declaration, 28 August 2026; ADS-B Exchange
7:52:47–8:03:46 p.m. ET (6:52–7:03 p.m. Ecuador)
President Daniel Noboa published photographs of Mr. Serrano to his X account. Two exterior images, showing him beside ICE officers and boarding an aircraft, were uploaded at 7:52:47 p.m. A third, taken inside the aircraft, was uploaded at 8:03:45 p.m. His post announcing Mr. Serrano's confinement at El Encuentro followed approximately one second later.
Source: X media and post timestamps
9:07 p.m. ET (8:07 p.m. Ecuador)
A reporter with a Quito radio outlet contacted Mr. Serrano's daughter privately with the photograph published by President Noboa, asking whether she feared for her father's life.
Source: Messaging record. The reporter's identity and employment are confirmed and on file.
10:32 p.m. ET (9:32 p.m. Ecuador)
Fiscal Ana Hidalgo formally requested that Judge Giovanny Freire issue a boleta de encarcelamiento, the judicial incarceration order. At the time of the request Mr. Serrano was already in transit to Ecuador. No such order had been issued before his removal.
What existed at the time of his arrival were oficios issued by Jueza Luz María Ortiz following a review of precautionary measures, directed to the National Police and to the judicial police capture unit. Neither authorised his incarceration.
Source: Informe procesal; habeas corpus petition
29 August 2026
~12:08 a.m. ET (~11:08 p.m. Ecuador, 28 August)
The aircraft carrying Mr. Serrano arrived at José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil.
Source: Flight manifest; press reporting
~2:10 a.m. ET
Mr. Serrano left the Guayaquil airport area in Ecuadorian custody, presumably for transfer to El Encuentro, Santa Elena. Two telephone calls were made during processing at the airport. One reached his daughter and lasted approximately two minutes. He has had no contact with his family since.
Source: Parte Policial No. 202608290444080708; press reporting
Time not recorded
A list of Mr. Serrano's medications was handed to an administrative office on arrival for internal processing. Counsel in Ecuador filed a formal request in the underlying criminal case asking the court to order SNAI to permit entry of his prescribed medications.
Source: Escrito 21 — Juicio No. 17294-2025-00782
12:47:59–12:48:03 p.m. ET
Photographs showing Mr. Serrano in a prison cell, in an orange uniform with his head shaved, were uploaded to X. President Noboa published them seconds later with the message "Hecho."
Source: X media and post timestamps
~4:00 p.m. ET
Counsel in Ecuador filed a corrective habeas corpus action directed to the Sala Multicompetente de la Corte Provincial de Justicia de Santa Elena. Grounds included detention absent any judicial incarceration order, undisclosed whereabouts, and deterioration of his physical and mental health in U.S. custody, including abruptly suspended medications and untreated diagnosed conditions.
Source: Habeas corpus petition — Proceso No. 24202-2026-00475
30 August 2026
4:08 p.m. Ecuador
The judge to whom the habeas corpus action had been routed by electronic sorteo declined to admit it. The corresponding providencia was notified to the parties on 31 August.
Source: Providencia — Proceso No. 24202-2026-00475
10:29 p.m. ET (9:29 p.m. Ecuador)
Counsel submitted a written request to CPL Santa Elena N.° 1 for a telematic legal visit on Wednesday 2 September 2026. The request was copied to eight SNAI officials and included four supporting documents.
Source: Email to CPL Santa Elena N.° 1
31 August 2026
10:55 a.m. Ecuador (11:55 a.m. ET)
A second written request for a boleta de encarcelamiento was filed before Judge Giovanny Fernando Freire Coloma in Proceso No. 17294-2025-00782, this one presented by a lieutenant colonel of the National Police. Mr. Serrano had been in Ecuadorian custody since 29 August. No incarceration order had issued in response to either this request or the request made by Fiscal Hidalgo on 28 August.
Source: Court filing receipt, Corte Provincial de Justicia de Pichincha, 31 August 2026
1:03 p.m. Ecuador (2:03 p.m. ET)
A second habeas corpus action was entered in person at the Sala Multicompetente de la Corte Provincial de Justicia de Santa Elena, naming CPL Santa Elena N.° 1, the Minister of the Interior, SNAI, the Ministerio de Salud, and the Procuraduría General del Estado.
Source: Court docket — Proceso No. 24111-2026-00056
2:52 p.m. Ecuador (3:52 p.m. ET)
The Secretary of the Sala Multicompetente certified that the action could not be placed before a judge rapporteur, because the judges of that Sala had been suspended under Resolución PCJ-MPS-016-2026 and no replacements had been designated.
Source: Court certification — Juicio No. 24111-2026-00056
Time not recorded
Judge Giovanny Freire issued a providencia in the underlying criminal case directing SNAI to provide the facilities necessary to address the medication request. The order issued as an auto interlocutorio. Per the informe procesal, the court did not formally transmit a separate oficio to SNAI, leaving compliance dependent on ordinary notification with no immediate enforcement mechanism.
Source: Providencia — Juicio No. 17294-2025-00782; informe procesal
2 September 2026
The requested legal visit had not been confirmed by CPL Santa Elena N.° 1. Mr. Serrano had had no contact with counsel.
Source: Status as of this date
4 September 2026
Family members and counsel in Ecuador travelled to deliver his prescribed medication. They spoke to personnel on site but were not able to reach the facility, and the medication was not received.
Source: Counsel's account
8 September 2026
12:00–1:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Ecuador)
A monitored telematic legal visit was held between Mr. Serrano and counsel. Counsel obtained it only after sending more than twelve written requests to facility and prison-system authorities over the preceding days.
Three hooded agents were present in the cell throughout. They wore no identification badges, so it could not be established whether they were police, military, or prison staff. The audio was carried on speakerphone with no headset, so everything said by both parties was audible to them. An additional person participated without appearing on camera and without identifying themselves, and stated the call would be disconnected if any non-legal matter was raised.
During the visit Mr. Serrano told counsel that he was not receiving his prescribed medication and that he did not have access to potable drinking water.
This was Mr. Serrano's first contact of any kind with counsel. He has had no contact with his family since entering the facility on 29 August 2026. Counsel describes the period from 28 August as eleven days of incommunicado detention. As of this date, no family member or counsel in Ecuador has been permitted to see him in person.
Source: Counsel's account
Corrections and additional documentation may be sent to prensa@joseserranoec.org.
Read what the record shows, drawn from these entries.
Sources and method
Times are given in Eastern Time (ET). Where the underlying record is Ecuadorian, local Ecuador time (ET−1) is given in parentheses.
Compiled from court records and dockets, filings by counsel, official correspondence, a signed flight manifest, call logs, publicly posted media with recorded upload timestamps, flight-tracking data, and press reporting. Each entry identifies its source.
Chronology last updated: September 15, 2026