The US has flown greater than 200 immigrants, alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, to be imprisoned in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele has stated, after his US counterpart Donald Trump controversially invoked wartime laws to expel them.
The deportations on Sunday happened regardless of a US federal decide granting a brief suspension of the expulsions order, apparently as planes have been already headed to El Salvador.
In a pointy rebuke Sunday, Venezuela’s authorities stated Trump had “criminalized” Venezuelan migrants, whom it stated have been “of their immense majority… dignified and sincere” employees, not terrorists. It added that the motion violated each US and worldwide legal guidelines.
“Oopsie … Too late,” Bukele posted on social media in response to an article on the decide’s ruling, including a crying-with-laughter emoji.
The Trump administration stated it was interesting the courtroom order.
White Home spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt defended the deportations, saying Trump was “utilizing his core powers as president and commander-in-chief to defend the American folks from an pressing risk”.
Bukele introduced the motion Sunday on X, saying, “Right now, the primary 238 members of the Venezuelan felony group, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our nation.”
Right now, the primary 238 members of the Venezuelan felony group, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our nation. They have been instantly transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Heart, for a interval of 1 yr (renewable).
The US can pay a really low charge for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025
He shared a video of a number of males in handcuffs and shackles being transferred from a aircraft to a closely guarded convoy, whereas the presidency shared a collection of photographs displaying prisoners’ heads being shaved, after which fingers manacled behind their backs, on their arrival in El Salvador.
Bukele stated the US would “pay a really low charge” for El Salvador’s custody of the boys, however neither he nor American officers specified the quantity.
Trump on Friday signed an order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, however it was not publicly introduced till Saturday.
The contentious wartime authority permits a US president to detain or deport residents of an enemy nation, and has been invoked solely thrice earlier than – throughout main worldwide conflicts, together with World Warfare I and II.
Bukele, in a gathering final month with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, provided to deal with prisoners from the US in his nation, together with members of Tren de Aragua and Salvador’s personal MS-13 gang.
Mega-jail with windowless cells
Iron-fisted Bukele is extraordinarily well-liked in his Latin American nation for a profitable crackdown on violent gangs, however has confronted criticism from human rights teams.
His provide to soak up overseas convicts for a charge has divided Salvadorans, who concern it might set again the nation’s combat in opposition to violent crime.
Leavitt informed the Fox Information Sunday Morning Futures programme that Trump “is performing inside the bounds of the legislation”.
Bukele stated the alleged gang members had been despatched to the nation’s most safety Terrorism Confinement Heart (CECOT), a mega-prison on the sting of a jungle 75km (47 miles) southeast of San Salvador with a capability for 40,000 prisoners.
Inmates there are packed in windowless cells, sleep on metallic beds with no mattresses and are forbidden to have guests.
Rubio stated in a press release on Sunday that as a part of the switch of Venezuela’s migrants, the US had deported “high leaders” of MS-13, “plus 21 of its most-wanted to face justice of their homeland”.
Wartime laws
Trump, in his order, claimed Tren de Aragua was “conducting irregular warfare in opposition to the territory of the US each immediately and on the route, clandestine or in any other case, of the Maduro regime”.
The assertion provides Trump’s Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi 60 days to enact the ruling making all Tren de Aragua gang members “topic to quick apprehension, detention and elimination”.
The order will apply to all Venezuelan Tren de Aragua members who’re over 14 and never naturalized US residents or lawful everlasting residents.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and an allied group, Democracy Ahead, requested the US District Courtroom in Washington to bar the deportations – arguing that the 1798 act was not supposed to be used in peacetime.
Decide James Boasberg on Saturday issued a 14-day halt to any deportation below the brand new order.
Bondi slammed the ruling, saying in a press release that it “places the general public and legislation enforcement in danger”.
The El Salvador jail the place the alleged gang members have been despatched already homes some 15,000 members of the MS-13 and rival Salvadoran Barrio 18 gangs.
They have been rounded up below a state of emergency imposed by Bukele after a surge in gang violence in 2022.
