Earlier this month, Donald Trump expressed interest in sending US citizens to El Salvador's notorious mega prison. This follows the deportation of 261 alleged criminals to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), a facility known for holding Venezuelan gang members and mass murderers. CECOT stands as the largest prison in the Americas with a capacity for 40,000 inmates.
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The mass deportations proceeded after the president reinstated a rare 18th-century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This legislation allows the US to deport migrants suspected of gang involvement or criminal activity without court proceedings.
On Tuesday (April 8), White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that this approach might extend to the most dangerous US-born criminals. She supported Trump's initial statements but added he would only proceed if legally permitted.
"The president has discussed this idea quite a few times publicly and privately," Leavitt told reporters. "You are referring to the president's idea for American citizens to potentially be deported, these would be heinous, violent criminals, who have broken our nations laws repeatedly."
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She continued: "These are violent repeat offenders in American streets. The president has said if it is legal, if there is a legal pathway to do that, he is not sure, we are not sure if it is. It is an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly in the effort of transparency."
Trump told reporters he would "love" to send the most "horrible criminals" to El Salvador for "a lot less money than it costs" to house them domestically. He explained: "We have some horrible criminals, American-grown and born, and if we have somebody that bops an old woman over the head, if we have somebody that is in jail 20 times and goes back and shoots people all over the place and then has a bad judge or a bad prosecutor that do nothing about them, all they worry about is politics, I think if we could get El Salvador or somebody to take them, I'd be very happy with it, but I have to see what the law says."
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Approximately 250 alleged offenders have been sent to El Salvador's infamous mega-prison as President Donald Trump pushed forward with the contentious action. The large-scale removal was executed under an obscure 18th-century wartime rule, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The rarely-used legislation was previously employed in the US to establish detention facilities for Japanese, German and Italian nationals during World War II. Yet Trump has sought to reactivate it to enable mass expulsions of non-US citizens accused of gang membership or criminal activity without legal proceedings.
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According to an executive directive signed by the President shortly after assuming office, the US faces an "invasion" of immigrants connected to organized crime.
The group of migrants transferred to the high-security Counter-Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) appears to have been moved under this provision after Secretary of State Marco Rubio negotiated an agreement with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Bukele, who strongly supports fighting gang violence in the Central American nation, posted images and videos showing the accused handcuffed individuals arriving and being guided from the aircraft to the detention facility. On Twitter, he stated hundreds of the arrivals belonged to the Venezuelan criminal group, Tren de Aragua.
"The United States will pay a very small fee for them, but a high one for us," he wrote. "Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year."
Bukele additionally stated the US delivered 23 MS-13 members "wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders," bringing the total number above 250.
A federal judge attempted to stop the deportation while the flight was already in the air, according to VT. The Trump administration insisted their actions were legal.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated: "A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from US soil," as reported by Sky News.
"One of them belongs to the criminal organization's highest structure," Bukele added. "This will assist us in completing intelligence collection and pursuing the final remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors."
The president concluded by saying the country, working with the US, will continue "advancing in the fight against organized crime" while making its prison "self-sustainable."
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"May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States," he finished.
Trump also praised the action, posting on Truth Social to describe the deportees as "monsters" who had been allowed into the US under Joe Biden and the Democrats.
"These are monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats," he declared. "How dare they!"
"Thank you to El Salvador, and in particular President Bukele, for your understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen to the United States because of Democrat leadership. We will not forget," Trump continued.
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Monday to approve President Trump's request to cancel a lower court's ruling that stopped his administration from using a 1798 wartime immigration law to quickly remove Venezuelan nationals—including alleged Tren de Aragua gang members—from the United States. This marks a key win for the administration as it pushes forward important immigration goals.
The high court's decision grants the administration a temporary victory. The case centers on the Alien Enemies Act, an immigration law Congress passed in 1789 that allows immediate removal of certain migrants from U.S. territory. Before Trump's second White House term, this law had only been used three times in American history: during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II.
Trump's legal team asked the court to cancel the lower court ruling, stating in their filing that the lower court orders "rebuffed" their immigration plans, including their ability "to protect the Nation against foreign terrorist organizations and risk debilitating effects for delicate foreign negotiations."
"Today's a bad day to be a terrorist in the United States of America," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a video on X, adding that Trump "was correct in using his authority on using the Alien Enemies Act to deport terrorists out of this country."
Attorney General Pam Bondi called the "landmark" decision a "victory for the rule of law," saying an "activist judge" in Washington, D.C., "does not have the jurisdiction to seize control of President Trump's authority to conduct foreign policy and keep the American people safe."
"The Department of Justice will continue fighting in court to make America safe again," Bondi added in her statement about the ruling.
"This is a major loss for the lunatics and a major win for the American people," Vice President JD Vance said after the High Court's decision. "Onward!"
The Supreme Court's ruling comes after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg last month temporarily blocked the administration's use of the 1798 law for 14 days while examining the case's merits—a pause a federal appeals court upheld in a 2-1 decision.
"Nazis got better treatment" than some migrants deported under the law, Judge Patricia Millett, appointed by Obama, said during the appellate hearing. Both Boasberg and the appellate panel strongly questioned the administration about Trump's proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals—and about the three planes that removed hundreds of migrants to El Salvador the very next day.
On that day, 261 migrants faced deportation, with over 100 Venezuelans removed "solely on the basis" of the 1798 law. The deportation planes reportedly touched down around the same time Judge Boasberg issued his temporary halt, raising concerns about whether administration officials knowingly ignored the order. Boasberg had given a bench ruling requiring any airborne flights to return "immediately." This did not occur.
On April 3, Boasberg indicated he was considering holding certain Trump administration officials in contempt of court for failing to provide information, despite repeated court requests about the deportation flights and the number of people sent to El Salvador. Government attorneys cited national security concerns as their reason for refusing to comply with the court's information request.
However, during the April 3 hearing, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign told Boasberg the flight information probably wasn't classified — causing the judge to question why the administration had refused to provide it on more than four occasions, including after a court-imposed deadline. "Pretty sketchy," Boasberg remarked in court.
Boasberg also urged the government to reveal the names, locations, and agencies of people involved in the removals, as well as any internal discussions with officials who might have been monitoring the court proceedings. The hearing represented the latest in a series of legal conflicts over the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act. It followed Boasberg's order requiring officials to explain why they failed to follow his directive to return the deportation flights – and whether they deliberately defied the court.
The Supreme Court ruling may not end Trump's effort to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg is still considering potential contempt charges against administration officials. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for April 8.
President Trump responded to the decision on Truth Social with a post: "The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself. A GREAT DAY FOR JUSTICE IN AMERICA!"
Donald Trump's government has confessed that a blunder occurred when a Maryland dad was dispatched to El Salvador's feared large-scale jail. More than 250 suspected lawbreakers have been sent to El Salvador's massive detention facility - the Center for Terrorism Confinement - which is infamous for holding Venezuelan gang affiliates and mass killers. The Center for Terrorism Confinement (also called CECOT) ranks as the biggest correctional facility in the Americas with capacity for 40,000 inmates.
Recently, the Trump leadership recognized their error, which resulted in a Maryland father with protected legal status being expelled to El Salvador. Though they've admitted this mistake, returning the man to the US presents difficulties, as officials claim they cannot bring him back because he remains in Salvadorian custody.
The legal case originates from a lawsuit concerning the removal of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who received protected status from an immigration judge in 2019. This designation should have blocked the federal government from sending him back to his home country. Abrego Garcia's lawyers stated that he escaped gang violence in El Salvador over ten years ago.
The document, released Monday (March 31), stated: "On March 15, although Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) knew of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error."
Before his transfer to the prison, ICE arrested him in mid-March 'due to his significant role in MS-13,' according to a court statement from a high-ranking ICE official. His attorneys maintain that he has never belonged to or associated with the gang.
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Robert Cerna, an acting ICE field office director, tried to clarify how the administrative mistake might have happened in his statement. He explained: "Abrego-Garcia was not on the initial manifest of the Title 8 flight to be removed to El Salvador. Rather, he was an alternate. As others were removed from the flight for various reasons, he moved up the list and was assigned to the flight."
"The manifest did not indicate that Abrego-Garcia should not be removed. Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador. This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego-Garcia's purported membership in MS-13."
