The Trump administration has not provided information on the legal process that will be used to determine who is part of the Tren de Aragua, nor on the possibility of challenging the accusations. Deportations of illegal migrants are a priority for Donald Trump and Marco Rubio.
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who maintains a close relationship with Trump, has succeeded in reducing crime rates in his country by building a massive prison complex and detaining thousands of suspected criminals under a state of emergency. Although El Salvador has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world, extreme overcrowding and human rights violations have also been reported in prisons.
Some of the first deportation raids conducted after Trump took office included members of the Tren de Aragua, a criminal gang from Venezuela. Due to the loosely defined structure of this organization, proving the links of migrants to the gang could prove difficult.
U.S. officials plan to discuss the possibility of deporting members of the Tren de Aragua to a prison in El Salvador as part of an agreement requested by President Donald Trump. This issue will be addressed when Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits Central America in the coming days.
It is reported that Trump is also seeking to restore "safe third country" asylum agreements introduced during his first term. The presidency of El Salvador has not commented on whether they will discuss this matter with Rubio. Trump and Bukele have talked about collaborating to combat transnational gangs like the Tren de Aragua.
It is important to highlight that crime has decreased in El Salvador under Bukele's leadership. Ongoing agreements and Central America being chosen for Rubio's first foreign trip as Secretary of State demonstrate Trump's determination to address the issue of undocumented migration.
In recent years, Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, has gained notoriety as one of the most dangerous organized crime groups in Latin America. This issue will be central to Rubio’s meetings in El Salvador and Guatemala, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
