The deportation came days before President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele were scheduled to meet at the White House.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on April 13 that U.S. authorities had deported 10 more alleged criminal gang members to El Salvador over the weekend.
Rubio made the announcement after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele arrived in the United States on April 12 for a meeting with President Donald Trump. He touted the U.S.–El Salvador alliance as an example of “security and prosperity in our hemisphere.”
Rubio said the deported individuals were members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua criminal gangs—which are U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations—without providing further details.
Trump and Bukele are scheduled to meet at the White House on April 14. Trump stated on April 13 that his administration is working closely with El Salvador to “eradicate terrorist organizations.”
Trump has praised Bukele for agreeing to accept and house illegal immigrants deported from the United States in El Salvador.
“These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President [Bukele] and his Government. They will never threaten or menace our Citizens again,“ Trump stated in a social media post on Truth Social.
Washington-based Human Rights First condemned the administration’s decision to invite Bukele to the White House, citing his government’s alleged human rights violations, including the enactment of a state of exception in March 2022 that suspended constitutional rights in El Salvador.
“Under President Bukele, human rights, democratic norms, and the rule of law have all but disappeared in El Salvador,” Human Rights First senior counsel Amanda Strayer said in a statement.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Embassy of El Salvador in Washington for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
El Salvador agreed in March to hold about 300 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang and two alleged members of the MS-13 gang in its “mega-prison” for a year in exchange for agreed payments.
