WASHINGTON D.C. - President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would try to deport “as many as possible” immigrants or criminals to El Salvador. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele met with Trump at the White House to discuss the ongoing deportations of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador’s notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement (CETOC).
Trump has now deported 238 individuals to El Salvador under the 1879 Alien Enemies Act without notice or due process of law. President Bukele has agreed to help Trump with his deportation goals and received $6 million from the White House to continue these efforts.
Among the deportees is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father from Maryland, who was wrongfully deported on March 15 due to an “administrative error,” said the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 31 in court. The government alleges he is part of the MS-13 gang. Garcia came to the U.S. illegally, and his wife filed a restraining order against him in 2021, according to the Department of Homeland Security. However, in 2019, a judge granted him protection from deportation.
On April 10, the Supreme Court judged Garcia’s deportation illegal and ordered Donald Trump to “facilitate” his return to the United States.
“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” said the Salvadoran president. Bukele expressed that he does not want to release potentially dangerous prisoners. Furthermore, on April 12, Trump posted on Truth Social, “President Bukele has graciously accepted into his nation’s custody some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States. These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President B and his Government.”
Bukele’s visit and Trump’s collaboration with him on deportations highlight the president’s willingness to partner with authoritarian and far-right heads of state when he can use them to help fulfill his aggressive agenda on everything from deporting immigrants to setting tariffs.
“El Salvador’s cooperation with the United States has become a model for others to work with this administration,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
El Salvador’s CETOC prison has been highlighted for its human rights abuses, systematic torture, and lack of due process. Since President Bukele was elected in 2019, he initiated a state of emergency to combat the increased gang activity in the country. Since then, 85,000 individuals have been detained, and only 1,000 have been convicted of a crime, according to Human Rights Watch.
Garcia has now been kept in the Salvadoran prison for 30 days and counting.
“Under President Bukele, human rights, democratic norms, and the rule of law have all but disappeared in El Salvador,” said Amanda Strayer, Senior Counsel for Accountability at Human Rights First, in a statement. “The United States should be holding Bukele’s government accountable for these serious violations, but instead the Trump administration is cozying up to and copying Bukele’s authoritarian playbook – rounding up people with no evidence, denying them any due process, and disappearing them in abusive Salvadoran prisons indefinitely.”
On April 9, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent a letter to the president demanding Garcia’s return. It states, “We find your administration’s actions to be wholly unacceptable. Your administration has not only disrupted the lives of his American wife and children, but also undermines the very foundations of our nation’s commitment to justice and due process.”
Before the Salvadoran president’s visit, the State Department changed El Salvador’s travel advisory from Level 2 to Level 1, signifying it's safe for travel and encouraging Americans to spend their tourist dollars in the country. This means that El Salvador is now considered safer for Americans than some European countries, including France and the United Kingdom.
Since the November election, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have both publicly supported other heads of state involved in human rights or criminal cases.
Trump called France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen's conviction for embezzling $4.1 million out of the European Union a “witch hunt.”
As Le Pen led the polls for the next election, she was found guilty of using European funds to pay her assistants and other employees working for her party in France, the National Front. Under French law, Le Pen was sentenced to ineligibility to participate in the 2027 presidential campaign and up to four years in prison.
Along with the U.S. government’s support, the Kremlin also denounced her conviction, saying Europe was “trampling on democratic norms.”
Another far-right leader, Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, is also set to visit the White House on Thursday and will be negotiating tariffs with Donald Trump. She was the only European leader who attended Trump’s inauguration in January, and Trump has called Meloni one of his favorite European leaders.
Similar to Trump, Meloni has opted for the deportation of undocumented immigrants from Italy to Albania. In November 2024, Rome signed a $200 million treaty with Albania to create bigger and more secure immigration camps. Italian courts have challenged the legality of Meloni’s plan. The camps are now being used as a holding post for people whose asylum demands have been denied. Meloni’s far-right coalition remains hopeful that a decision by the European Union’s Court of Justice could pave the way for this policy to be implemented.
More recently, Meloni passed her controversial security bill by decree. The new bill would limit rights to freely assemble and provide protections for law enforcement accused of police brutality. In December 2024, when the bill arrived in the Italian Senate for a vote, the Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights denounced this bill and warned of potential human rights abuses.
In another instance of European political involvement, Elon Musk in January urged German voters to vote for the extreme right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The party has been accused of being anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, and homophobic.
One of its largest campaign promises is what they call “remigration,” the mass expulsion of immigrants. The AfD has advocated for the expulsion of German citizens who do not have German ancestry. As a result, German courts have ruled that a significant portion of the AfD is suspected of being an extremist organization. The AfD came in second place in the February elections.
Among other controversial leaders, Javier Milei of Argentina has also become Trump’s “favorite president.” He was the first world leader to visit Mar-a-Lago after the November election. Milei is highly admiring of Trump and agrees with the president on various measures.
When Mileil ascended to the presidency in 2023, he implemented an austerity plan that reduced government spending, resulting in a significant increase in poverty nationwide. Milei has also attacked the LGBTQ community, restricted freedom of assembly, and has severely increased law enforcement’s ability to use lethal force against suspected gang members.
In a parallel with Trump, Milei has opted out of the World Health Organization, refused to condemn Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine, and has continuously fought against “wokeness.”
Amalia Huot-Marchand is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
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