For the U.S. government, sending deportees accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador fits with President Trump’s promise to aggressively deport undocumented migrants and to crack down on crime.
For El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, the rewards appear to have included, among other things, a White House visit and a travel-safety rating for his country that is higher than France’s.
While the exact terms of the agreement have not been made public, other leaders around the world may be watching, experts and immigration lawyers say, especially as the Trump administration searches for other countries willing to take expelled migrants of other nationalities.
“Other leaders and countries are trying to emulate the Bukele arrangement,” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, a director of Lawyers for Civil Rights, a Boston-based group that has represented immigrants in lawsuits against the Trump administration. Countries are increasingly “raising their hand to volunteer their incarceration facilities and to facilitate the deportation of people,” he added.
A White House spokeswoman has said the administration is “grateful for President Bukele’s partnership” and for the use of his maximum-security prison, adding, “There is no better place for these sick, illegal criminals.”
MS-13 Gang Leaders Returned
An investigation by The New York Times found the U.S. government not only paid Mr. Bukele’s government around $5 million to incarcerate more than 200 Venezuelan deportees, but added a bonus at his request: the return to El Salvador of several top MS-13 leaders in American custody, some thought to have knowledge of Mr. Bukele’s ties to the gang.
American authorities have found substantial evidence of secret negotiations between Mr. Bukele’s government and MS-13 leaders, and some experts say Mr. Bukele may want to bury that evidence. He has denied having any pact with the gang; his administration did not respond to a request for comment.
A Boost for Tourism
In April, the State Department upgraded El Salvador’s travel advisory to its highest rating, citing a “drop in violent crimes and murders.”
The improved rating — higher than France’s — reflects a dramatic turnaround for a country that once had a soaring homicide rate and “significant human rights issues,” according to the State Department in 2023.
The upgrade came soon after El Salvador received the U.S. deportees, and after Mr. Bukele met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ahilan Arulanantham, of the U.C.L.A. Center for Immigration Law and Policy, said there was “no question” that Mr. Bukele would want the upgrade. Any government, he said, would “prefer a rating saying it’s safe to travel to.”
Mr. Bukele, who hopes tourism will boost the economy, trumpeted the news and promoted a new surfing destination.
“Just got the U.S. State Department’s travel gold star: Level 1: safest it gets,” he said.
Temporary Protected Status
The Trump administration recently ended deportation protections for immigrants from countries including Haiti, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Honduras and Nicaragua.
But Salvadoran immigrants still have Temporary Protected Status, which shields some 200,000 people from deportation and allows them to legally work in the United States. The privileges last until early September.
Experts say that status earns Mr. Bukele political points at home, where remittances from U.S.-based relatives are vital to the economy.
Muted Criticism
In recent months, Mr. Bukele’s government has cracked down further on civil liberties, targeting civil society groups, arresting critics and pushing some prominent journalists to flee.
And while the European Union condemned a new law giving his government broad powers to silence dissidents, the U.S. government stayed quiet.
Instead, the State Department certified in April that El Salvador was protecting press freedom and strengthening the rule of law.
Attention and Access
After the deportees arrived in El Salvador, Mr. Trump hosted Mr. Bukele in the Oval Office, flattering him as “President B.”
Mr. Bukele’s cooperation — and his highly-stylized images of shackled deportees entering a prison built for terrorists — also generated buzz, which the Salvadoran president has exploited.
Recently, he sparred online with a fashion designer whose Paris show featured models in outfits resembling those worn by the deportees.
Mr. Bukele has also emerged as an example for other governments, generating at least one agreement, between El Salvador and Costa Rica, to replicate his high-security prison there.
International Scrutiny
The agreement to jail deportees from the United States has invited scrutiny of Mr. Bukele, according to Douglas Farah, an El Salvador expert who advised a Justice Department task force targeting MS-13.
Family members have called for the release of many of the Venezuelan deportees, saying their relatives have no criminal records. Democratic lawmakers have demanded answers about the deal. One returned deportee has said he was mistreated in Salvadoran custody.
Mr. Bukele has denied those allegations. “I don’t care if they call me a dictator,” he said recently. “I would rather be called ‘dictator’ than watch them kill Salvadorans in the streets.”
Mr. Farah said the deal has created tension. “Bukele hadn’t thought about what this would look like to the outside world and to his own people,” he said. For the first time, he added, Mr. Bukele’s image as his nation’s savior is facing “counterpressure.”
Annie Correal reports from the U.S. and Latin America for The Times.
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