US deports hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador despite court order to stop
The administration of US President Donald Trump has transferred a large number of immigrants to El Salvador, even as a federal judge issued an order that bars the deportation.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele confirmed on Sunday that the deportees had arrived and were being kept in a maximum-security prison.
“Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country,” Bukele stated in a posting on X.
Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025
The United States will pay a very low fee for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6
In a February meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Bukele had offered to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members currently in the States.
Trump has promised to drastically slash immigration and has issued a flurry of executive orders aimed at achieving that goal.
Rights groups have responded with lawsuits challenging the legality of Trump's orders.
To be able to deport suspected "terrorists" from the United States, Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Following a petition by human rights activists challenging the 1798 law, last used during World War I and World War II, a US federal judge ordered a 14-day suspension of any deportations on March 15.
However, the White House announced on Sunday that the three planes transporting the suspects had already departed when the court order was issued.
"The government did not 'refuse to comply' with a court order. This decision, which has no legal basis, was issued after the foreign terrorists of the TdA (Tren de Aragua) were removed from the country," the US presidency said in a statement.
"Oops... too late," President Bukele posted Sunday on X in response to the news about the court ruling, along with a laughing-crying emoji.
In the meantime, the alleged gang members have been sent to El Salvador’s maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison on the edge of a jungle 75km southeast of San Salvador with a capacity for 40,000 prisoners.
Prisoners at this high-security facility are packed in windowless cells, sleep on metal beds with no mattresses and are forbidden to have visitors.
We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 16, 2025
"El Salvador has agreed to hold [deportees] in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollar," the US top diplomat said in a post on Sunday.
The US sent them “2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador," Rubio noted.
Washington is to pay $6mn to El Salvador to house the deportees.
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