The Trump administration secured the release of 10 Americans wrongfully jailed in Venezuela Friday in exchange for hundreds of suspected Tren de Aragua gang members deported by the US to El Salvador.
“Today, thanks to President Trump’s leadership and commitment to the American people, the United States welcomes home ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
“Until today, more Americans were wrongfully held in Venezuela than any other country in the world,” Rubio added. “It is unacceptable that Venezuelan regime representatives arrested and jailed US nationals under highly questionable circumstances and without proper due process.”
“Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland.”
As part of the prisoner swap, 252 Venezuelan nationals sent to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) are being returned to South America, a senior administration official told CBS News.
President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in March to swiftly deport the suspected gang members who entered the US illegally. Several lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration over its use of the 18th-century law.
The Trump administration had been paying El Salvador roughly $6 million to house the deported men.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele noted that the deal rids his country of all Venezuelans deported to his country by Washington.
“Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TDA),” Bukele wrote on X. “Many of them face multiple charges of murder, robbery, rape, and other serious crimes.”
Political prisoners detained by Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro have also been freed as part of the deal – and they’re heading to El Salvador.
“As was offered to the Venezuelan regime back in April, we carried out this exchange in return for a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners, people that [the] regime had kept in its prisons for years, as well as all the American citizens it was holding as hostages,” Bukele said. “These individuals are now en route to El Salvador, where they will make a brief stop before continuing their journey home.”
“This operation is the result of months of negotiations with a tyrannical regime that had long refused to release one of its most valuable bargaining chips: its hostages.”
Maduro’s regime detained about a dozen American citizens late last year, alleging that they were part of plots to destabilize the country.
The Caracas crackdown targeted activists, opposition members and union leaders disputing the results of Venezuela’s 2024 election, which the US and several other nations do not recognize as legitimate.
The Trump administration previously won the release of seven Americans from Venezuelan custody.
“Our commitment to the American people is clear,” Rubio said. “We will safeguard the well-being of U.S. nationals both at home and abroad and not rest until all Americans being held hostage or unjustly detained around the world are brought home.”
With Post wires
