U.S. invokes 18th-century law to expel hundreds; human rights groups alarmed over inhumane detention conditions.
El Salvador has accepted more than 200 immigrants since March, most of them Venezuelans, accused of belonging to gangs and criminal organizations. All were taken to its infamous maximum-security prison.
President Donald Trump welcomed Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, to the White House on Monday, after the small Central American nation became a key player in the U.S. government’s mass deportation operations.
During the meeting, Trump thanked the Salvadoran president for accepting the expulsion of migrants accused of terrorism and for allowing the use of a maximum-security prison in El Salvador to detain them. In return, Bukele told his counterpart that the U.S. has a “problem with crime and terrorism” and that his country is eager to help.
The Central American president also confirmed he would not return to the U.S. a Salvadoran migrant who was sent to the megaprison, calling him a “terrorist.”
“Of course I won’t do that. How could I send a terrorist back to the United States?” said Bukele in the Oval Office.
Bukele justified the decision by stating that his government does not release people it considers dangerous. “I won’t release him. We don’t like releasing terrorists in our country,” he said. Pressed by the media, he added that El Salvador “doesn’t have the power to return him,” referring to Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García, who is being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) despite a U.S. court order preventing his deportation.
Ábrego García was among the 261 migrants sent to Cecot on March 15, when the Trump Administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expedite the deportation of 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans identified by U.S. authorities as alleged members of transnational criminal organizations. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was present at the meeting, said the man had lived in the U.S. illegally since 2019. Although he had no criminal record in the U.S., he was flagged as a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.
Bondi clarified that the Supreme Court’s order is not the U.S. government’s responsibility to enforce and that the U.S. would facilitate the migrant’s return “if El Salvador decides to return him.” Bukele dismissed that notion, insisting his government would not allow a “terrorist” to return to the U.S. “We just became the safest country on the continent. We can’t release criminals — that would take us back to being the murder capital of the world,” he said.
During the bilateral meeting, Trump praised Bukele’s cooperation, thanking him for helping to resolve what he called the “open borders problem” inherited from previous administrations. “We had stupid people running this country, and what they did to us at the border can never be forgotten. It’s a disgrace, and you’re helping us. We thank you,” Trump stated from the Oval Office.
Trump also reiterated his criticism of Democratic administrations, blaming them for permissive immigration policies. “We’re getting them out. But what they did, what that party did to our country… open borders… anyone could come in just by hearing that,” he said.
The agreement between the two countries includes a $6 million payment from the U.S. government, though the details of the contract have not been disclosed. In exchange, El Salvador authorized the use of Cecot to house migrants expelled for alleged ties to criminal groups such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
According to Trump’s administration, the Tren de Aragua “is invading U.S. territory,” a claim used to justify applying the Alien Enemies Act. However, security experts cited by U.S. media have questioned this characterization, stating that the group’s presence in the U.S. does not represent an invasion-level threat.
Cecot, inaugurated in 2023 with a capacity for 40,000 inmates, has become a symbol of Bukele’s security strategy, focused on mass incarceration of suspected gang members. The megaprison has faced criticism from international human rights organizations over inhumane detention conditions and lack of due process.
Despite these criticisms, the Trump Administration has praised El Salvador’s security policy as a model of “zero tolerance” against organized crime and human trafficking. During the meeting in Washington, Trump said his government would continue taking “decisive” action to expel individuals suspected of posing a national security threat, regardless of their immigration status or country of origin.
Bukele rose to power during Trump’s first term and maintained a direct relationship with the U.S. leader. Under Bukele’s administration, the number of Salvadorans heading to the U.S. border dropped significantly.
However, his relationship with the U.S. became more strained under President Biden’s administration, which openly criticized some of Bukele’s anti-democratic actions.
Just before Bukele’s visit to Washington, the U.S. State Department updated its travel advisory for El Salvador to Level One — the safest category for American travelers — noting that gang activity and associated violent crimes, including murders, have significantly declined over the past three years.
