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The United States proposed sending up to 500 Venezuelan migrants with alleged ties to the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador as the two governments sought to reach an agreement on the use of the Central American nation’s notorious mega-prison, according to emails seen by CNN.
The details of the arrangement, which have not been previously reported, reveal the Trump administration’s deal-making with El Salvador to take the unprecedented step of sending migrants to the country to be detained in CECOT, officially known as the Terrorism Confinement Center.
El Salvador eventually agreed to accept up to 300 people in mid-March, according to an internal document. A US official described 500 as a “notional” figure, adding that the arrangement between the two countries is a “cooperation agreement but in a friendly non-binding fashion,” and still stands.
President Donald Trump has lavished praise on El Salvador’s Trump-friendly President Nayib Bukele, telling reporters earlier this month “he’s doing a fantastic job.” “He’s been amazing,” Trump said. “They have some very bad people in that prison,” he added referring to CECOT.
Trump officials have long touted El Salvador as a key ally to the administration’s immigration agenda – but deportation flights carrying 238 Venezuelan migrants to the country last month sparked a fraught legal battle and fierce criticism from Democrats and immigrant advocates.
Prior to those flights, though, the United States had been setting up a costly arrangement with El Salvador to detain migrants with alleged ties to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that the administration labeled a foreign terrorist organization.
The US has approved $15 million in foreign affairs funding to be sent to El Salvador. But, as of late April, just under $5 million has been sent in the form of a grant to El Salvador’s government, according to two sources familiar. According to the US official, the Trump administration is providing compensation per individual imprisoned in the country which is why another tranche of money hasn’t been sent yet.
The proposed arrangement included the US providing transportation and related costs and paying a one-time maintenance fee of $10 million, about $20,000 per person sent to the facility.
The US official told CNN that deportations of MS-13 gang members, particularly of its leaders, was a priority for Bukele, and the Trump administration agreed.
