Washington DC: The Trump administration completed a large-scale prisoner swap with Venezuela on Friday (local time), sending about 250 Venezuelans who had been deported and imprisoned in El Salvador back to their home country in exchange for 10 US nationals, officials said, as per CNN.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked Venezuelan President Nayib Bukele for helping secure an agreement for the release of all of our American detainees.
In a post on X, he said, "Thanks to US President Donald Trump's leadership, ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela are on their way to freedom. I want to thank my team at the Department of State and especially President Nayib Bukele for helping secure an agreement for the release of all of our American detainees, plus the release of Venezuelan political prisoners."
The US External Office for Venezuela (VAU) said in a post on X, "Nothing says freedom like the American flag. Ten Americans freed from Venezuelan prisons today are coming home because of US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Venezuelan President Nayib Bukele. America First in action."
Among the Americans released were Jorge Marcelo Vargas, Lucas Hunter and Wilbert Joseph Castaneda, CNN reported.
In March, the Trump administration used a sweeping wartime authority to swiftly deport more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they were detained in a notorious mega-prison, known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. The deportations caught immigration attorneys and family members by surprise and prompted fierce public backlash.
While the federal government hasn't provided a public accounting of the people on the March flights, attorneys and relatives have confirmed some of those who were transferred to El Salvador. The United States had classified the deportees as gang members in court, though immigration attorneys, advocates and family members have pushed back on that, claiming in many cases that the detainees had no criminal record. It was not immediately clear if these Venezuelans would be held as prisoners when they return to their home country, CNN reported.
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