The United States has deported over 250 alleged gang members, mainly from Venezuela, to El Salvador, despite a US judge ordering the halt of such flights after President Donald Trump controversially invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law typically reserved for wartime. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele confirmed the arrival and custody of 238 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, as part of an agreement where the US will pay El Salvador to house them in its 40,000-capacity “terrorism confinement center”.
A US federal judge subsequently expanded his ruling to temporarily block the Trump administration from invoking the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority granting the president broad powers to expedite mass deportations. The US district judge James Boasberg initially attempted to halt all deportations of individuals deemed eligible for removal under Trump’s proclamation, and ordered any ongoing deportation flights to return to the US.
President Bukele responded with a post on social media, using a laughing emoji, indicating the deportations had already taken place. Later, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked El Salvador’s leader and acknowledged the efforts to combat crime by sending “2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted” back to face justice in El Salvador.
US officials have accused the Venezuelan gang of conducting “irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions” against the US, and the Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times before, most recently during World War II for mass internments. Critics, including lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, argue that the act cannot be lawfully applied to criminal gangs rather than recognized states.
El Salvador’s “terrorism confinement center” is central to President Bukele’s controversial anti-gang crackdown which has resulted in the imprisonment of tens of thousands of people since March 2022. The facility has been praised by right-wing politicians and has been shown to foreign visitors, including journalists, purportedly to document its harsh conditions and the reduction in the country’s murder rate. Human rights activists have condemned the mass imprisonments for lack of legal process, with over 100 prison deaths reported since the crackdown began. Neither country provided immediate evidence that the deported Venezuelan prisoners were indeed gang members or had been convicted of any offense.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/deportation-alleged-gang-members-el-salvador
