Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said Sunday his Central American country has accepted more than 200 members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who were deported by the United States, as the U.S.-El Salvador prison partnership begins to take shape.
Mr. Bukele welcomed the arrival of the South American gang members who have been linked to murders, human trafficking and armed takeovers of apartment buildings in the U.S.
“Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country,” Mr. Bukele posted on X. “They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).”
A video accompanying Mr. Bukele’s social media post showed legions of military and police personnel taking the shackled inmates off planes and transporting them to El Salvador’s 40,000-person mega prison.
He added that 23 members of Salvadoran gang MS-13 were part of Saturday’s late-night prison flight. Mr. Bukele said that includes two MS-13 ringleaders, one of whom is “a member of the criminal organization’s highest structure.”
“This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors,” the Salvadoran president posted.
The prison flights landed hours after a federal judge had ordered the Trump administration to stop the hasty deportations on the basis of an 18th-century wartime law.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg put a 14-day pause on President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, which allows the president to rapidly detain and deport immigrants from “hostile” nations either during a “declared war” or when a foreign government is perpetuating an “invasion” into the U.S.
The law has only been invoked in World War I and World War II, when federal authorities said it was needed to monitor and detain people of German, Japanese and Italian descent.
Mr. Trump authorized the law’s usage Friday to deport suspected members of Tren de Aragua, or TdA, who have been a main target in the president’s push to remove criminal illegal immigrants from the country.
During the Saturday evening hearing, Judge Boasberg ordered flights already in the air to return to the U.S.
“This is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” Judge Boasberg said, according to NBC News. “These folks are going to be sent to Salvadoran and Honduran prisons, which are not going to be terribly receptive to Venezuelans.”
Mr. Bukele jeered the judge’s ruling Sunday morning by posting an article about the return orders with the comment “Oopsie … Too Late.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio brokered the prison partnership with El Salvador during a trip last month. Mr. Bukele said he would be willing to hold American convicts inside his country’s facilities as well.
“President Bukele is not only the strongest security leader in our region, he’s also a great friend of the U.S. Thank you!” Mr. Rubio wrote.
