The shocking reason behind the deportation of 17 migrants to El Salvador
On Monday, President Trump thanked Bukele for accepting the migrants expelled by Washington, calling them “criminals” and claiming that they were given a “wonderful” place to live, although most have been incarcerated.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, responded to his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, on Monday with a “Forward together!” following Trump’s gratitude for accepting a new group of 17 migrants expelled by Washington, labeled as “criminals.”
“Grateful for your words, President Trump,” Bukele wrote on X, followed by, “Forward together!”
Trump thanked Bukele for accepting the expelled migrants, claiming that the “corrupt Biden Administration” had foolishly allowed them into the U.S. and asserting that Bukele had provided them with a “wonderful” place to live.
“Thank you, President Bukele of El Salvador, for accepting the criminals that the corrupt Biden Administration so stupidly allowed into our country and for giving them such a wonderful place to live,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social.
Trump’s message echoed a previous post by Bukele on X, in which the Salvadoran president reported a new operation carried out on Sunday night. In this operation, 17 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) and MS-13 gangs were transferred from the U.S. to El Salvador.
Most of the migrants sent to El Salvador have been confined to the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), the mega-prison that has become a symbol of Bukele’s war on gangs.
Bukele’s message, which Trump referenced, included a video showing the men arriving in El Salvador aboard what appears to be a military plane, escorted by dozens of Salvadoran army officers in camouflage uniforms.
The footage, with a dramatic soundtrack in the background, shows the handcuffed migrants stepping off the plane and being transported by bus to a facility where they have their heads shaved before being led, chained by their hands and feet, into what appears to be the Terrorism Confinement Center.
Another 17 migrants, including several Venezuelans, arrived in El Salvador from the U.S. on Monday.
“The constitutional crisis in the U.S. is unfolding before our eyes,” some analysts warn.
Neither the U.S. nor Salvadoran governments have provided evidence confirming the deportees’ affiliations with MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, both of which Washington has designated as terrorist organizations.
The U.S. has not disclosed the nationalities of the deported individuals, but the Salvadoran government stated that they included both Salvadorans and Venezuelans.
On March 15, Trump ordered the expulsion of about 200 people to El Salvador, most of them Venezuelans. This decision is currently being challenged in court by civil rights organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to carry out these expulsions, a law that has only been used three times in history: during the War of 1812 and both World Wars.
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