Several members of the violent Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang arrived in El Salvador on Sunday morning just hours after President Trump invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to swiftly deport known and suspected gang members.
The detainees arrived in El Salvador — where they will be housed in the nation’s impenetrable super-max prison for a small fee — despite a ruling from an Obama-appointed federal judge that ordered a halt to the act’s enforcement for 14 days.
Citing widespread evidence of Tren de Aragua’s infiltration of Venezuela’s security agencies, as well as support for the gang from dictator Nicolas Maduro’s regime, Trump announced Saturday that he will be taking extraordinary measures to rid the United States of the gang’s presence.
The gang has been widely involved in human trafficking, drug dealing, extortion, organized retail theft and several additional crimes in both the U.S. and abroad. In the town of Aurora, Colorado, TdA members took over an entire apartment complex and were able to extort and threaten residents with impunity.
On February 20, Trump designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization after consultation with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He