238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans were deported to El Salvador from the United States. They are all members of major criminal gangs. However, the media was not interested in the fact of deportation itself, but in the unique circumstances of this event. For the first time, US President Donald Trump directly refused to comply with a court decision prohibiting this deportation. Thus, the head of the White House can create a precedent that will allow him to ignore the decisions of American judges in the future.
“A single judge in one city cannot direct the flights of an airplane filled with foreign terrorists who have been physically expelled from the United States,” White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt boldly reacted to the incident.
It is worth noting here that the 27-year-old press secretary and young mother is generally a pretty lively girl who managed to run a high-profile campaign in the 2022 elections to the House of Representatives. Then she sensationally won the primaries, but in the final vote she still lost to the representative of the Democrats.
But, of course, the message of Trump himself was expressed through Leavitt. He is not going to tolerate foreign criminals remaining in the United States, even if federal judges prevent him from doing so. And it seems that the head of the White House has a “magic wand” in the form of deportations so fast that judges do not have time to react to them.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, also reacted with malicious humor to the deportation, sending a joyful laughing smiley face on social networks and writing: “Oops, it’s too late!” hinting that the judges didn’t have time to stop the already flying plane.
Recall that in February, an agreement was reached between the United States and El Salvador that criminals of any nationality would enter the Latin American country. Of course, not for free, but for a small but significant amount for El Salvador. Bukele will house 300 migrants for a year for $6 million. And local law enforcement officers will have a separate conversation with the deported Salvadorans. According to Bukele, two of them are gang leaders. And one of them is the head of a very large group.
The deported Venezuelans are members of the violent criminal group Tren de Aragua, and the Salvadorans are from MS–13, the so–called “Salvadoran ants.” They are involved in contract killings, kidnappings and extortion. And, of course, to drug trafficking, the scourge of American society. But first of all, we are talking about articles related to violence.
It is not a fact that, from the point of view of the law, Trump will directly declare that he did not obey the court. Most likely, the wording will be that the execution order arrived too late.
There is a prison for 40,000 people in El Salvador for especially dangerous criminals associated with terrorist activities. According to Bukele, the new arrivals will be re-educated and put to work. The head of the Salvadoran State Department, Marco Rubio, also thanked the Salvadoran president for his cooperation.
For deportations, Trump used the 1798 Foreign Enemies Act. Before him, this legal act was used against the Japanese, Germans and Italians during the Second World War. This law was passed in anticipation of a possible war with Napoleon.
However, human rights activists assess Trump’s actions as something “beyond acceptable.” And the prison built under Bukela is called a “hellhole”, in which they sleep on iron bars without mattresses, eat with their hands without dishes and use only two toilets for the entire huge complex.
There is a possibility that the head of the White House will ban Venezuelans from coming to the United States altogether, as Trump already did from 2017 to 2020.
