Accused Tren de Aragua, MS-13 gang members get harsh welcome in El Salvador
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Ali Bradley covers developments on the southern border with a focus on human and drug smuggling, immigration enforcement efforts, and the failure to control the influx of migrants. Check out Bradley on the Border on YouTube now!
(NewsNation) — The U.S. deported more than 250 alleged gang members to El Salvador this weekend, and video posted to social media shows the harsh reception they received in the Central American country.
Salvadoran officials said the detainees included 238 Venezuelans who are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, as well as 23 members of MS-13. They were immediately transferred to a Terrorism Confinement Center, where they are scheduled to stay for at least one year, under an agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador worth $6 million, according to the Associated Press.
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“The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said in comments on X that accompanied government video of the high-security exchange.
Footage of alleged Tren de Aragua, MS-13 gang members
In the footage, shackled prisoners are seen stumbling forward as heavily armed officers push them along.
Detainees’ wrists, ankles and waists are tightly bound, forcing them to shuffle in short, restricted steps. On the tarmac, riot police stand shoulder to shoulder, gripping their batons as helicopters hover overhead, scanning for any disturbances.
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The men are loaded one by one onto special units and military buses, their heads forced down as officers keep them under strict control.
Sirens blare as a convoy of armored vehicles, escorted by special forces, transports the migrants to the mega-prison known as CECOT, the same facility where El Salvador’s government has locked up tens of thousands of gang members in recent years.
Inside the prison walls, heads are shaved in assembly-line fashion, while guards bark orders.
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Cameras also capture the moment they are dressed in white prison uniforms, before they are marched, hands behind their backs, into tightly packed holding cells.
Alien Enemies Act of 1798
The transfer of the migrant detainees comes as the Trump administration is trying to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members of Tren de Aragua, which the State Department has designated as a terrorist organization.
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The strategy faced immediate legal challenges, and a federal judge in Washington called for planes to be turned around while the issue was settled in court. The White House said the migrant detainees were in international airspace at the time of the ruling.
President Bukele offered an online taunt upon receiving the migrants, saying, “Oopsie… Too late.”
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