Controversial deportations: USA send other alleged criminals to El Salvador

The US government has deported another 17 suspected gang members to a high-security prison in El Salvador in Central American. According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, these are members of the criminal groups Tren de Aragua from Venezuela and MS-13 from El Salvador. Both organizations had been declared foreign terrorist groups under President Donald Trump.

Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele published a video of the transfer. In the shots reversed with dark music, you can see how soldiers bring the people tied to the hands and feet from an airplane under strict safety precautions and bring to the prison in Tecolula, 70 kilometers east of the capital San Salvador.

Washington speaks of an anti-terrorist operation

Rubio described the deportation as an anti-terrorist operation. Murderers and rapists were also sent to El Salvador. “These criminals will no longer terrorize our communities and citizens,” he wrote on the X.

Two weeks ago, the United States sent 238 alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. At that time Washington called for a controversial war law from the 18th century. In the legal dispute over the deportations, the US government recently turned to the Supreme Court after an appellate court prohibited the deportation of migrants on the basis of the War Act.

The United States pays thousands of US dollars per inmate to El Salvador

A few days ago, Minister of Homeland Protection Kristi Noem visited prison. According to Bukele, Washington pays a fee of $ 20,000 annually (around 18,500 euros) for each of the prisoners that El Salvador takes up. Human rights organizations have accused Bukele of arbitrary arrests and violations of fundamental rights in their own country.