Over 200 Venezuelans, whom the White House suspects of gang affiliation, have been sent back from the US to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, despite a US judge halting the removals.
President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced via social media that 238 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, along with 23 members of the international MS-13 gang, arrived in the Central American nation on Sunday morning.
Neither the US government nor El Salvador has disclosed the identities of the individuals being detained or provided specifics regarding their alleged criminal activities or gang ties.
A federal judge’s ruling stopped the Trump administration from using a long-standing wartime law to justify certain deportations, although the flights had already taken off.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump declared that he had invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, blaming Tren de Aragua for “carrying out, attempting, and threatening an invasion of predatory incursion against the territory of the United States.”
He stated that gang members would be deported for their involvement in “irregular warfare” against the US. Historically, the Alien Enemies Act was utilised during World War II to detain Japanese-American civilians.
Later that evening, US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington DC issued a 14-day suspension of the deportations related to Trump’s proclamation, pending further legal discussions.
After attorneys informed him that planes carrying deportees had already taken flight, Judge Boasberg verbally instructed for the flights to return, according to US media, even though that instruction was not part of his official written order.
The US and El Salvador agreement indicates an enhancement of diplomatic relations. El Salvador was the second nation that Rubio visited during his time as the US’s leading diplomat.
These latest deportations under Trump’s second term are an aspect of the president’s ongoing initiative against illegal immigration within the US.
