US deports hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, despite judge's order

In an unprecedented move, more than 250 Venezuelans have been deported by the United States and sent to El Salvador, where they were transferred to a maximum security prison, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Sunday.

The Trump administration accused them of being members of the Tren de Agua criminal gang, invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport them, which has been used only three times in US history.

Tren de Aragua originated in an infamously lawless prison in the central state of Aragua and is linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime and contract killings.

Growing danger in Venezuela linked to gang crime led to 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 seized on the gang during his campaign to paint misleading pictures of communities that he contended were “taken over” by what were actually a handful of lawbreakers.

US District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order on Saturday evening blocking the deportations, but lawyers told him there were already two planes with migrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order.

Bukele announced via the social network X that 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang had arrived in his country and were transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Centre (Cecot), a mega-prison with a capacity for 40,000 inmates, where they will remain for a period of one year that could be renewed.

A video shared on Bukele's social media shows the