US prepares to deport about 300 alleged gang members to El Salvador
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, meets with President Nayib Bukele at his residence at Lake Coatepeque, El Salvador, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration will pay El Salvador $6 million to imprison for one year about 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, in one of the first instances of the Central American country taking migrants from the United States.
The agreement follows discussions between El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio about housing migrants in El Salvador’s notorious prison. Bukele’s government has arrested more than 84,000 people, sometimes without due process, since 2022 as part of his crackdown on gang violence in the small country.
Memos detailing the transfer did not disclose how the Trump administration identified the roughly 300 people as members of Tren de Aragua, a gang Trump repeatedly highlighted in the campaign and declared to be a terrorist organization.
“The Republic of El Salvador confirms it will house these individuals for one (1) year, pending the United States’ decision on their long term disposition,” wrote El Salvador’s ministry of foreign affairs in a memo obtained by the Associated Press.
The Central American nation and Trump administration last month struck a deal to house migrants detained in the United States. The Trump administration contended that El Salvador could even house American citizens, though the U.S. cannot deport citizens to another country.
Rubio and Bukele discussed the specifics of the new transfer, which include a cost of about $20,000 to house each prisoner for the year. A State Department document also suggests that it may set aside $15 million to send to El Salvador to house additional members of the gang.
The Salvadoran memo also confirmed the country would take two men it said were members of the MS-13 gang, an organization that was initially comprised of Salvadoran migrants to the U.S. and had gained an increasing foothold in El Salvador prior to Bukele’s crackdown.
One man, Cesar Eliseo Sorto Amaya, was convicted of double homicide in El Salvador before he was caught illegally entering the United States, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The other was charged under President Joe Biden’s administration with being a high-ranking leader of the MS-13 gang.
Bukele’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a prison in the South American country and accompanied an exodus of millions of Venezuelans, the overwhelming majority of whom were seeking better living conditions after their nation’s economy came undone last decade.
Trump and his allies have turned the gang into the face of the alleged threat posed by immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and formally designated it a “foreign terrorist organization” last month.
Authorities in several countries have reported arrests of Tren de Aragua members, even as Venezuela’s government claims to have eliminated the criminal organization.
The government of President Nicolás Maduro has not taken back immigrants deported from the U.S., except on a few occasions. Over the past few weeks, about 350 people were deported to Venezuela, including some 180 who spent up to 16 days at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Trump’s government has alleged Venezuelans sent to the naval base are Tren de Aragua members, but it has offered little evidence to back that up.
On Saturday, the government’s centralized press office in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the agreement between the U.S. and Salvadoran governments.
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Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.