March 31 (UPI) — The United States transported another group of alleged gang members to El Salvador, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday, amid the Trump administration’s policy to ship detainees to the Central American country.
The military transfer of 17 alleged Tren de Aragua and MS-13 members to El Salvador was conducted overnight Sunday, the United States’ top diplomat said.
“These criminals will no longer terrorize our communities and citizens,” Rubio added in the Monday statement.
President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador confirmed receipt of the prisoners with a post on X that accompanied a cinematic video showing the detainees — handcuffed and wearing grey sweat suites — unloaded from the back of a military plane.
On the tarmac, they are hunched over with the hands of masked military officials on their hands and marched to a bus that transports them to El Salvador’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, where their heads were shaved and they were locked into cells.
Bukele claimed the 17 men were “confirmed” murderers and violent criminals, and child rapists.
“This operation is another step in the fight against terrorism and organized crime,” Bukele said.
Last night, in a joint military operation with our allies from the United States, we transferred 17 extremely dangerous criminals linked to Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
All individuals are confirmed murderers and high-profile offenders, including six child rapists.
This operation… pic.twitter.com/Tk1Xq7vnuB— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 31, 2025
Trump reposted the video to his account on his Truth Social media platform with a note thanking Bukele “for taking the criminals that were so stupidly allowed … to enter our country.”
The Trump administration deported 238 migrants accused of being gang members to El Salvador earlier this month under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a wartime authority that allows for the detention of citizens from a labeled enemy country.
It has been used three other times: During the War of 1812, World War I and during World War II to intern citizens of Japanese descent.
The deportations have been challenged in court by immigration and civil rights advocates. A federal court barred the Trump administration from conducting further deportations, a ruling that was backed by a divided appeals court. Trump has now asked the Supreme Court to lift that order.
Trump has sought to deport to El Salvador all Venezuelans 14 years of age or older who are members of the Tren de Aragua gang on claims they are invading the United States in support of Venezuela’s dictator President Nicolas Maduro’s goal of destabilizing the country.
Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce could not confirm to reporters during a press conference on Monday if the deportations were conducted under Trump’s Alien Enemies Act, which could be a violation of the court order.
“I think what’s important is the fact that the president and the secretary have made it very clear — well, really from day one — that the security of the United States is top priority,” she said.
