What the record shows
The following are observations drawn directly from the chronology.
His family has not independently confirmed where he is held. Ecuadorian authorities have stated that Mr. Serrano is at CPL N.º 1 Santa Elena. No family member or lawyer has seen him in person, despite repeated requests by his family and counsel. The only legal visit, on 8 September, was conducted by video and monitored throughout by three hooded agents who wore no identification badges and could not be identified.
The arrest was requested fourteen months before it happened. ICE detained Mr. Serrano on 7 August 2025. In June 2024, President Noboa told The New Yorker that he had asked United States authorities to arrest him, and that they had declined.
Mr. Serrano was removed aboard a chartered private aircraft. The signed manifest records a Bombardier Challenger 350 flying Opa Locka to Guayaquil, carrying five passengers and two flight crew, with no cargo. The aircraft departed Opa Locka at 7:48 p.m. ET on 28 August. Emergency filings were prepared and submitted the same day.
He was confined before any incarceration order existed, and none issued after two requests. The first request for a boleta de encarcelamiento was made by the prosecution at 9:32 p.m. Ecuador time on 28 August, after he was already in transit. A second was filed by the National Police at 10:55 on 31 August. Mr. Serrano had been in Ecuadorian custody since 29 August.
No Ecuadorian judge has ruled on the merits of either habeas corpus action. Both were filed in Ecuador after his transfer. The first was declined for lack of territorial competence and sent to archivo pasivo rather than remitted to a competent judge. The second could not be placed before a judge rapporteur, because two of the three judges of the receiving Sala had been suspended two days before the removal.
He reports that he is not receiving his prescribed medication, potable water, or food appropriate to his diagnosed medical conditions. During the monitored legal visit of 8 September, Mr. Serrano told counsel that he was not receiving his prescribed medication, that he did not have access to potable drinking water, and that the food he is given is not appropriate to his diagnosed medical conditions. A list of his medications was handed to the facility's administrative office on 29 August. Family members and counsel travelled to deliver medication on 4 September but were not able to reach the facility.
A court order concerning medication was never sent to the prison authority. On 31 August a judge ordered SNAI, the body that runs the facility, to permit entry of Mr. Serrano's prescribed medication. The court never sent SNAI the order. He remains without access to his medication.
He has had no contact with his family since entering the facility on 29 August. His first contact with counsel was the monitored legal visit of 8 September, obtained after more than twelve written requests. No in-person visit by family or counsel in Ecuador has been permitted.
Read the full chronology of events, with sources.
Findings last updated: September 15, 2026