El Salvador imprisoned 238 suspected members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang and 23 members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang in a maximum-security prison on Sunday, after they were sent by U.S. President Donald Trump, who invoked a wartime law to expel them. Trump invoked the Enemy Aliens Act of 1798, last used during World War II, to issue the expulsion order, but on Saturday a federal judge suspended it, apparently when the transfer process to El Salvador was already underway.
“Today the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua arrived in our country,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele reported on social network X, adding that 23 members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) were also sent, including two leaders. Bukele posted a video showing the “immediate” transfer operation of the detainees to the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in Tecoluca, 75 km southeast of San Salvador, where, he said, they will remain for “a period of one year (renewable).”
In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February in El Salvador, Bukele had offered to imprison “dangerous criminals” sent by the Trump administration in his country. In February, the United States added the Venezuelan-origin Tren de Aragua, the MS-13, created by Salvadorans and other migrants in Los Angeles, and six Mexican cartels to its list of terrorist organizations.
When issuing the expulsion order, Trump argued that he had the right to declare them “foreign enemies” under the more than two-century-old law. In response to this decision, the Venezuelan government considered on Sunday that Trump “criminalizes” migrants from the South American nation using this old law, which it described as “anachronistic.”
“Venezuela categorically and forcefully rejects the proclamation of the United States government that criminally and unjustly stigmatizes Venezuelan migration,” reads a statement from Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Chained and Shaved
The three planes carrying the prisoners landed at El Salvador’s international airport. Videos released by the Salvadoran government show soldiers removing the chained detainees from the planes and putting them on buses to take them to Cecot. Upon arrival at the maximum-security prison, they were made to kneel while telling their names to prison officers, who shaved their heads. The video also showed how they were put into their cells dressed in shorts, T-shirts, and white socks.
“We are helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustaining,” Bukele added on X, noting that “the United States will pay a very low fee for them, but high” for El Salvador. On Sunday, on his Truth Social platform, Trump thanked Bukele. “These are the monsters that corrupt (former president) Joe Biden and radical left Democrats sent to our country,” Trump wrote.
Bukele launched Cecot three years ago as part of his crackdown on gangs, which has been criticized by human rights organizations for allowing arrests without judicial warrants. Thousands of innocent people were detained. Salvadoran criminologist Misael Rivas believes this is an opportunity for Bukele to show his “ability to help” an “important partner.” “They don’t come to stroll (the prisoners), they will be under a severe regime,” he said.
Considered the largest prison in Latin America, it was inaugurated on January 31, 2023. It is designed for 40,000 prisoners, but until now about 15,000 members of MS-13 and the rival Barrio 18 gang were imprisoned. “It’s a huge business for Bukele, he’s going to get money from the United States by renting them Cecot without being accountable to anyone and without having a law to support it,” said Ingrid Escobar, director of the NGO Humanitarian Legal Aid.
On his X account, Rubio also reported the transfer of 23 MS-13 members and “more than 250 enemy aliens from Tren de Aragua” to El Salvador. That figure differs from the one announced by Bukele. Tren de Aragua was formed in 2014 in the Venezuelan prison of Tocorón, in Aragua state (north-central). It is linked to murders, kidnappings, robberies, drug sales, prostitution, extortion, and human trafficking.
Its activities have expanded to several countries on the continent, including the United States, and in South America to Colombia, Chile, and Peru, according to various intelligence reports. Three Central American countries – Guatemala, Panama, and Costa Rica – have agreed to serve as a “bridge” for migrants deported by Washington, but El Salvador is the only one that accepts prisoners.
