Inside Trump's deal with El Salvador
U.S. Paying 46M to sent deportees to mega-prison
By: Nelson Renteria
Thomson Reuters Foundation
tELCOLUCA, El Salvador - Behind the high concrete walls of El Salvador's notorious mega-prison, more than 250 Venezuelans deported in March [2025] from the United States remain locked up as President Donald Trump ramps up his mass deportation.
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As part of a deal reached between Salvadoran President Mayib Bukele and Trump, the United States is paying the central American country $6 million to hold the Venezuelan deportees and other it claims are gang members.
..... Bukele is scheduled to visit the White House on April 14 [2025] to discuss further use of the giant Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) - the largest detentions that can hold up to 40,000 prisoners - for deportee from the united States.
..... But the deportation deal is fraught with complications. As attorneys and relatives of many deportees deny they have gang ties, battles are being fought over their right to due process and concerns are growing over the conditions inside CECOT.
..... The United States deported more than 250 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Arague, along with 23 suspected MS-13 gang members and leaders, to El Salvador on March 16 [2025] and March 31. [2025]
..... The U.S. government designated Tren de Aragua a "foreign terrorist organization" in January. [2025]
..... For 137 of the accused gang deportees, the U.S. government cited the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime law, saying the men belonged to Tren de Aragua but provided few details about their cases.
..... A U.S. official said in a court filing that many of those 137 have no U.S. convictions but nevertheless posed serious threats.
Legal blows to deportations
..... The use of El Salvador to dump deportees is being fought out in U.S. courts.
..... The U.S. Supreme Court on April 10 [2025] order the administration to "facilitate" the return of Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia after he was sent to CECOT despite an immigration court order against him being placed there due to there risk of persecution.
..... Judges in Texas and New York on April 9 [2025] dealt twin blows to Trump's efforts to revive deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the Enemies Act after the Supreme Court ruled the administration could expel people under the rule.
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This marked victories for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is seeking to prevent further deportations of alleged gang members under the 18th century law.
..... Family members, many of whom say those deported have no gang affiliation, are fearful about their fate.
..... The Venezuelan prisoners, who have not committed any crimes in El Salvador and have not seen publicly since last month [03/2025]
..... No family visits are allowed at the mega-prison, which human rights groups say is overcrowded, with harsh conditions.
International law
..... Defense attorneys says details have not been released about the prisoners' confinement and they have not been able to communicate with them, despite international law giving them that right.
..... "From no point of view, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself, should any person be treated in this manner, much less should they be in a detention center for immigrations issues," said Salvadoran lawyer Jaimie Ortega, head of a law firm handling the Venezuelans; case.
..... A habeas corpus lawsuit that questions the legality of the detentions has been presented to El Salvador's supreme Court in defense of 30 imprisoned Venezuelan citizens, and by extension of the rest of the detainees, Ortega said.
..... During an April 4 [2025] visit to the sprawling CECOT complex, the Thomson Reuters Foundation witnessed unidentified inmates sitting in cells on metal bunks, dressed in white clothes whet their heads shaved.
..... The prisoners, who were not the alleged Venezuelan gag deportees, intently observed the procession of journalists who accompanied a guided tour by Coast Rican officials visiting El Salvador to evaluate the prison system.
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Some inmates could be seen undergoing medical checkups, during physical exercise or listening to religious talks about forgiveness and repentance, all under close watch by masked guards and riot gear-clad police officers.
..... No authorization was provided to the media to speak to inmates or prison staff.
'Great friend'
..... El Salvador has become a key partner of the Trump administration in its deportation juggernaut.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has praised Bukele as "not only the strongest security leader in our region, he's also a great friend of the U.S."
..... Rubio hailed the $6 million deal for El Salvador to house migrant's saying it will hold accused gang members in "very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayers dollars." Opened in 2023 and located in an isolated rural area about an hour's drive from the capital San Salvador, the mega-prison also holds about 18,000 Salvadorans whop had been detained in other prisons since March 2022 under a state of emergency declared by Bukele to combat gang violence.
..... Bukele's iron-fisted war against violent gangs has led to plummeting murder rates and gained him popularity among many in El Salvador.
..... But local and international human rights organizations have denounced the imprisonment of innocent Salvadorans with no gang ties for lacking due process or fair trials.
..... CECOT has "conditions of torture under which hundreds of Salvadorans have died under the regime," said David Morales, a lawyer at Cristosal, a group defending rights on Central America.
..... The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters.