Olusegun Ariyo
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the United States has removed hundreds of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua using now-blocked authority from the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
Rubio in a statement said hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of the country.
In a post on X, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said that 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang had arrived in the country and were immediately transferred to a terrorism confinement centre for a one-year period that could be renewed.
According to him, the US had also sent back 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, including two high-ranking members.
Recall that 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 that the statute refers to hostile acts perpetrated by another country that are commensurate to war.
