WASHINGTON – Over 200 purported members of a Venezuelan gang have been deported by the U.S. and sent to El Salvador, where they were taken to a high-security prison, as announced by the Salvadoran president on Sunday. President Donald Trump utilized the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to expedite the deportation of alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal group associated with various illegal activities. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., halted the application of the law for 14 days, citing the necessity for acts of hostility comparable to war.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele indicated on social media that 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang had been transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center, a large-scale prison facility. The timeline of the deportations from the U.S. to El Salvador was not fully clear, but a post by Bukele suggested that it was in progress before the U.S. judge’s intervention.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that over 250 alleged members of Tren de Aragua had been sent to El Salvador. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the Salvadoran government did not provide immediate commentary. The Venezuelan government condemned the use of the “outdated” U.S. law for deportations, alleging a violation of migrants’ rights.
Both Bukele and Rubio stated that the U.S. had also deported 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 to El Salvador. The U.S. reportedly agreed to pay $6 million to El Salvador to house 300 alleged members of Tren de Aragua for a year. The Trump administration is challenging the legal decision at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson and David Ljunggren; Editing by Louise Heavens, Michelle Nichols, and Bernadette Baum)
