The United States has deported more migrants to El Salvador despite a court order disputing the legality of the move.
The administration of President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that it sent 17 alleged “violent criminals” to El Salvador despite a court order to stop the move.
This photo released on March 16, 2025 by El Salvador’s presidency press office shows the arrival of alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua at the Terrorism Confinement Center in the city of Tecoluca, El Salvador
“Last night, in a successful counter-terrorism operation with our allies in El Salvador, the United States military transferred a group of 17 violent criminals from the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 organizations, including murderers and rapists,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
Trump has declared the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations.
Rubio said in a statement that, "These criminals will no longer terrorize our communities and citizens."
He said the prisoners included "murderers and rapists."
“These criminals will no longer instill fear in the country,” Rubio reiterated.
The top US diplomat thanked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for accepting the alleged criminals which included what the Latin American leader himself described as suspected "child rapists."
Bukele even posted a Hollywood-style video on social media, showing the chained deportees escorted by masked troops exiting a US military aircraft. The prisoners in the video were brought to their knees with their hands tied in the back and their heads forcibly shaven before they are put behind bars.
Rubio, who appears to be making pretentious efforts showing the implementation of the new US anti-immigration policy, did not state under which authority the US State Department had deployed the prisoners.
The Trump administration has invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify deportations without the usual due process spelled out by the US Constitution.
A federal judge on March 15 ordered a halt to deportations under the act, as several planeloads were already in the process of heading to El Salvador.
Bukele, an advocate of mass incarceration who has offered to take in inmates from the United States in exchange for money, responded sarcastically on social media that the judge's court order came too late.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court's halt, arguing it flagrantly infringes on presidential authority.
The federal judge's order left the door open for deportations under other authorities.
An initial appeal by the Trump administration was turned down Wednesday with one appeals court judge saying that even "Nazis got better treatment" from the United States during World War II.
Trump, during his campaign trail, promised his supporters that he would clamp down on immigration.
