Trump Defies Judge: 250+ Gang Members Deported to El Salvador

The US has flown more than 250 accused migrant gang members to El Salvador, where they were sent to a notorious mega-prison — in direct defiance of a federal judge’s ruling against the Trump administration.

The flights included 238 members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, as well as 23 members of MS-13, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, revealed Sunday morning.

Upon landing in El Salvador, the accused men were met on the tarmac by dozens of armed commandos and immediately transferred to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), according to dramatic video posted by Bukele.

The deportations came just hours after US District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked the Trump administration from invoking the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to swiftly boot the gangbangers from the country without a formal hearing.

Two flights to El Salvador were in the air when the order came down, and the Trump administration decided the ruling did not apply because the planes were “outside US airspace,” Axios reported.

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 53, met with Bukele, 43, and brokered a deal in which the El Salvadoran leader agreed to house convicted US citizens or deported criminal illegal migrants of any nationality into the country’s most clink.

With more than 15,000 prisoners, CECOT is internationally famous for its horrendous conditions. It’s well-known to human rights groups as an overcrowded nightmare facility where brutality is rampant and inmates experience harsh treatment, many crammed in their cells nearly 24 hours a day.

The food provided is minimal – consisting of only beans and pasta – and rival gang members routinely fight to the death over food and water, according to reports through the years.

Trump’s hard-nosed border czar, Tom Homan, praised the administration’s latest round of deportations in a post on X Sunday morning.

“Last night, 238 Tren de Aragua members along with 21 MS13 gang members, were deported from this country adding to the thousands of criminal aliens already deported,” he wrote.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, this country is becoming safer every day.”
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">First 250+ migrant gang members from US arrive in El Salvador — where they’ll be held in a notorious mega-prison <a href="https://t.co/tST7oorbt0">https://t.co/tST7oorbt0</a> <a href="https://t.co/KzlcovtKZa">pic.twitter.com/KzlcovtKZa</a></p>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1901304253664068033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Bukele noted that the MS-13 members were wanted in El Salvador, and included two ringleaders.

“One of them is a member of the criminal organization’s highest structure,” Bukele wrote.

He added: “This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors.”

Bukele said El Salvador is committed to “advancing in the fight against organized crime. But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action.”

“May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States,” he added.

Rubio thanked Bukele for his “assistance and friendship” for agreeing to take in the prisoners, which Bukele said he’d do in exchange for a “relatively low” fee, the amount of which is not yet publicly known.

During an emergency hearing Saturday morning, Judge Boasberg ordered the administration to halt all migrant removals made invoking the 1789 wartime act – which was last used during World War II to justify internment camps for noncitizens from Japan, Germany and Italy.

“Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States however that is accomplished,” Boasberg wrote, according to the Washington Post.

“Make sure it’s complied with immediately.”

The ruling slapped a 14-day restraining order on the use of the act, which the administration plans to use to deport any migrant it identifies as a member of a gang.

Trump signed a presidential order in January, designating Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization, clearing a path for immigration officials to start rounding up its members for removal.

Since taking office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has made over 32,000 arrests – 70% of them either facing charges or convicted of crimes, senior agency officials said last week.

Of those nabbed by Trump’s ICE, 14,000 are convicted criminals, 10,000 have pending criminal charges and 8,700 do not have criminal records in the US, ICE officials told reporters.

However, ICE would not confirm how many illegal migrants have been deported so far.