US to pay El Salvador to jail 300 Venezuelan gang members

El Salvador — The US is set to pay El Salvador $6m to imprison 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang that it deports to the Central American country, for one year, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Saturday, citing an internal memo.

“El Salvador confirms it will house these individuals for one  year, pending the US’s decision on their long term disposition,” AP quoted a memo from El Salvador’s foreign ministry as saying.

El Salvador’s presidential office said it only knows what has been made public, while the White House and Venezuela’s information ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio signalled during a visit last month that the country’s government had offered to host “dangerous criminals” deported from the US in its prisons.

Human rights groups have opposed the plan, citing reports of torture and deaths in custody in El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele has spearheaded an anti-gang crackdown that has included mass trials and construction of a “mega prison”.

The move comes as the Trump administration pursues mass deportations of migrants, including agreements under which third countries accept citizens.

Washington last month designated Tren de Aragua and other criminal groups across the region as global terrorist organisations, a move some analysts said could expose to prosecution migrants who pay human smugglers.

Tren de Aragua has been blamed for a surge in crime in the Americas, and the US has accused it of activities including human smuggling, gender-based violence, money laundering and drug trafficking.

Separately on Saturday, US President Donald Trump invoked a little-known 18th-century wartime law to declare Tren de Aragua (TdA) as alien enemies who are “perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the US”.

“All Venezuelan citizens 14 years of age or older who are members of TdA, are within the US, and are not actually naturalised or lawful permanent residents of the US are liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies,” he said in a proclamation.

Reuters