Ex-Ecuador Minister's Deportation Sparks Tension Amid Murder Accusations

ICE deported an ex-Ecuadorian minister accused of helping a drug cartel murder a presidential candidate back in his home country — even after a US judge blocked his removal over fears he be tortured if returned to the South American nation.

José Serrano, who served as Ecuador’s interior minister under leftist former President Rafael Correa, was deported Friday and promptly mocked by President Daniel Noboa as the newest “guest” of the country’s notorious El Encuentro mega-prison.

“We said it, we delivered. José Serrano, Rafael Correa’s Interior Minister, is the new guest at El Encuentro,” he wrote on X.