Latin America Countries Face Deportation Dilemma
Latin America Countries Face Deportation Dilemma
Regional reactions are muted as countries pick their battles with Washington.
Guards escort a newly admitted inmate deported from the United States to the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 16. Salvadoran Government via Getty Images
Several Latin American leaders are cooperating with U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for large-scale deportations from the United States—but none more enthusiastically than Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
Bukele offered last month to house deportees from the United States in a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Over the weekend, the Trump administration flew more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to the country, despite a judge’s order to block the expulsions.
Several Latin American leaders are cooperating with U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for large-scale deportations from the United States—but none more enthusiastically than Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
Bukele offered last month to house deportees from the United States in a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Over the weekend, the Trump administration flew more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to the country, despite a judge’s order to block the expulsions.
Bukele posted videos of the migrants arriving in El Salvador and mocked the U.S. judge, posting on X: “Oopsie… Too late.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted the message.
A White House spokesperson said the United States is paying El Salvador’s government around $6 million for taking the deportees. Bukele said they will stay in Salvadoran prison for at least a year, with an option to extend.
Bukele and the White House border czar both claimed without proof that 238 of the deportees were members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. That allegation is contested by several families of the detained, who did not have a chance to defend themselves in court.
Read more in today’s Latin America Brief: Are Trump’s Deportations to El Salvador Just the Beginning?
This post is part of FP’s ongoing coverage of the Trump administration. Follow along here.
Catherine Osborn is the writer of Foreign Policy’s weekly Latin America Brief. She is a print and radio journalist based in Rio de Janeiro. X: @cculbertosborn
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