Over 250 gang members were brought into El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) after the Trump administration defied a federal judge’s ruling against President Trump’s crackdown.
Opened in 2023, the CECOT was designed to hold the most dangerous gang members in what used to be the country with the highest murder rate in the world.
Prisoners cannot receive visitors, and hearings happen only via Zoom. Cell signal is blocked within a mile-and-a-half radius surrounding the prison to keep any information from getting out, in an effort to contain the power of gangs, which authorities said used to control 85% of the country’s territory. Today, El Salvador has the lowest homicide rate in the Western Hemisphere.
Many reports also indicate inmates receive minimal food, consisting of beans and pasta, with rival gang members often engaging in deadly conflicts over food and water.
Many inmates are serving sentences that are centuries long, while others still have not been convicted. But the prison’s director affirms that no prisoner there will ever step outside, CBS news reported .
In a video shared by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, deportees from US were seen being taken to the prison from the tarmac.
“Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country. They were immediately transferred to CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center, for a period of one year (renewable). The United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us,” Bukele said.
“Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable. As of today, it costs $200 million per year,” he added.
Bukele said that the inmates, which include several ringleaders, will help the country finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13.
“On this occasion, the US has also sent us 23 MS-13 members wanted by Salvadoran justice, including two ringleaders. One of them is a member of the criminal organization’s highest structure. This will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors,” Bukele said.
“As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime. But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action. May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States,” he added.
The transfers followed after Trump signed a presidential order in January designating Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, enabling immigration officials to begin removing its members.
Earlier, a deal brokered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele involved housing convicted US citizens or deported criminal illegal migrants in the country’s prison system.
During an emergency hearing, Judge Boasberg issued a 14-day restraining order against using the 1789 Wartime Act for migrant removals. The act was previously used during World War II to justify internment camps for Japanese, German, and Italian noncitizens.
“Any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States however that is accomplished,” Boasberg wrote, instructing immediate compliance with the order.
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