US deports hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members under now-blocked authority

The United States has expelled hundreds of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua under the now-suspended authority of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday.

”Hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of our country,” Rubio said in a statement.

“Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said Sunday morning on X, sharing a video of several men in handcuffs and shackles being transferred from a plane to a heavily guarded convoy.

Bukele, in a meeting last month with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had offered to house prisoners from the United States in his country.

The iron-fisted leader has seen soaring popularity in his Latin American country for a successful crackdown on criminal groups, but has faced criticism from human rights groups.

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He said in his post that the alleged gang members had been sent to the country’s maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).

President Donald Trump on Friday invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime and contract killings.

A federal judge on Saturday blocked the application of the law for 14 days, saying the statute refers to ”hostile acts” perpetrated by another country that are ”commensurate to war.”

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With inputs from agencies