President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele mocked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg after two flights from the U.S. carrying nearly between 250 and 300 Venezuelan and other gang members landed in El Salvador despite Boasberg’s emergency order issued Saturday evening in a case brought by the ACLU to turn the planes around and return the gang members to the U.S.
According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a few MS-13 gang members and most wanted fugitives were among the over 250 Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang members deported after President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
El Salvador receives members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who were deported by President Trump, screen image via President Nayib Bukele, posted March 16, 2025
El Salvador receives members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who were deported by President Trump, screen image via President Nayib Bukele, posted March 16, 2025
Bukele posted, “Oopsie…Too late ” over a New York Post headline that reads, “Fed judge orders deportation flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gangbangers to return to US after Trump invokes Alien Enemies Act”
Oopsie…
Too late pic.twitter.com/nDHL6deLJq
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025
Bukele also posted video of the nighttime arrival of the deportees, showing the gang members being removed from the planes in shackles and then being taken to El Salvador’s supermax security prison, CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, in a massive security operation.
The gang members, appearing to be all male, are later seen having their heads shaved by masked security personnel.
Bukele posted a statement accompanying the video:
Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).
The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us.
Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year.
On this occasion, the U.S. has also sent us 23 MS-13 members wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders. One of them is a member of the criminal organization’s highest structure.
This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors.
As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime. But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action.
May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States.
Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable).
The United States will pay a very low fee for them,… pic.twitter.com/tfsi8cgpD6
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 16, 2025
Statement by Secretary Rubio:
“We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by
@POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars. President @nayibbukele is not only the strongest security leader in our region, he’s also a great friend of the U.S. Thank you!”
We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 16, 2025
Rubio added, “Thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele.”
Thank you for your assistance and friendship, President Bukele. https://t.co/E6DrFLeU5F
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 16, 2025
Last month, under President Trump’s direction, Rubio traveled to El Salvador to meet with Bukele. That meeting resulted in Saturday’s mass deportation of foreign gang members (State Department statement):
Readout
Office of the Spokesperson
February 3, 2025
The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in San Salvador. It was a tremendously successful meeting that will make both countries stronger, safer, and more prosperous.
Multiple agreements were struck to fight the waves of illegal mass migration currently destabilizing the entire region. President Bukele agreed to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members who are in the United States unlawfully. He also promised to accept and incarcerate violent illegal immigrants, including members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, but also criminal illegal migrants from any country. And in an extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country, President Bukele offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals, including U.S. citizens and legal residents.
Secretary Rubio and President Bukele concluded a civil nuclear cooperation MOU, which was signed by the Secretary and Salvadoran Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco hours later.
Secretary Rubio informed President Bukele that the United States will issue a waiver to unfreeze assistance to support the two countries’ joint work to detect suspicious travelers at El Salvador’s National Passenger Analysis Center (CNAP), resume operations at El Salvador’s Border Security Information Group (GCIF), and support El Salvador’s vetted units working with U.S. law enforcement.
Secretary Rubio also raised strategies to counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the hemisphere to safeguard the sovereignty and interests of both nations and the region.
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