Hundreds of Venezuelans Deported by US, Ignoring Court Ruling
A plane carrying over 200 Venezuelans, deported by the United States, touched down in El Salvador just hours after an American judge instructed the Trump administration not to proceed with the deportation. Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, disclosed via social media that the deportees included 238 members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 members from the global gang MS-13, who arrived on Sunday morning.
This deportation occurred despite a federal judge's ruling preventing President Trump from using a historic wartime law as grounds for the deportations, an event President Bukele humorously referenced with a post reading, "Oopsie... Too late."
The US's tactic of deporting foreign alleged criminals to El Salvador has previously been described by Rubio as "the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world." The deportees were swiftly moved to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, where they could potentially be held for more than a year, according to Bukele.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged the arrival of the suspected gang members in El Salvador and expressed gratitude towards Bukele, praising him as "the strongest security leader in our region". This was after US District Judge James Boasberg ordered a stop to deportations justified by Trump's proclamation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law enabling the government to detain and deport individuals deemed as threats to national safety without due process.
After learning that the deportation planes had already departed, Judge Boasberg demanded they be returned, but this directive was seemingly ignored. Rubio confirmed the deportations were executed under the Alien Enemies Act, and made no reference to the judge's order.
The deportation was visually documented in a video posted by Bukele. The video shows individuals handcuffed and being directed by armed officials from the plane, with some being loaded into armored vehicles and others onto buses under police escort.
The detainees were taken to the notorious mega-prison Cecot, a maximum-security institution holding up to 40,000 inmates. Despite being a symbol of Bukele's efforts to combat organized crime, the facility has faced criticism for its alleged mistreatment of inmates.
This deportation event underscores the strengthening diplomatic relationship between the US and El Salvador. Rubio expressed gratitude towards Bukele for his cooperation and friendship.
This deportation aligns with President Trump's ongoing campaigns against illegal immigration. Previously, in January, he declared Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations, promising the largest deportation operation in US history. However, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reportedly fallen short of Trump's expected arrest quotas, with recent data showing a lower number of deportations in February compared to the same month in the previous year under the Biden administration.