The deportation came days before President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele were scheduled to meet at the White House.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on April 13 that U.S. authorities had deported 10 more alleged criminal gang members to El Salvador over the weekend.
Rubio made the announcement after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele
arrived in the United States on April 12 for a meeting with President Donald Trump. He touted the U.S.–El Salvador alliance as an example of “security and prosperity in our hemisphere.”
Rubio said the deported individuals were members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua criminal gangs—which are U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations—without providing further details.
Trump and Bukele are scheduled to meet at the White House on April 14. Trump stated on April 13 that his administration is working closely with El Salvador to “eradicate terrorist organizations.”
Trump has praised Bukele for agreeing to accept and house illegal immigrants deported from the United States in El Salvador.
“These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President [Bukele] and his Government. They will never threaten or menace our Citizens again,“ Trump stated in a social media
post on Truth Social.
Washington-based Human Rights First condemned the administration’s decision to invite Bukele to the White House, citing his government’s alleged human rights violations, including the enactment of a state of exception in March 2022 that suspended constitutional rights in El Salvador.
“Under President Bukele, human rights, democratic norms, and the rule of law have all but disappeared in El Salvador,” Human Rights First senior counsel Amanda Strayer said in a
statement.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
El Salvador
agreed in March to hold about 300 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang and two alleged members of the MS-13 gang in its “mega-prison” for a year in exchange for agreed payments.
The Trump administration has deported hundreds of illegal immigrants accused of involvement in the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador after Trump signed a
proclamation on March 15 invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which allows noncitizens to be deported without legal process during wartime, invasion, or “predatory incursion” against the United States.
In his proclamation, Trump stated that many members of the Tren de Aragua gang have “unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare and undertaking hostile actions” against the country.
The president said that evidence showed the criminal gang “has invaded the United States and continues to invade, attempt to invade, and threaten to invade the country; perpetrated irregular warfare within the country; and used drug trafficking as a weapon against our citizens.”
The government’s deportation efforts have faced legal pushback. Last month, a federal judge
ordered the administration to turn around the planes carrying nearly 300 alleged criminal gang members already en route to El Salvador.
On April 10, the Supreme Court authorized a lower court to
order the administration to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, whom it had mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador, was arrested and deported to El Salvador in March because of what authorities described as his “prominent role” in the MS-13 gang.
An immigration judge had previously determined that there was strong evidence the man was a member of MS-13, but a different judge issued a withholding of removal, preventing the deportation of Abrego Garcia to his home country over concerns that he would not be safe there.
The government has said that Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador was caused by an
administrative error. Trump
told reporters on April 11 that he would honor the Supreme Court order.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
