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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described the deportation of over 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members sent by the US to a mega-prison in El Salvador as a “kidnapping,” foreign media reported. Denying that the deported individuals were criminals, Maduro has backed calls for their return.
“Nayib Bukele should not be an accomplice to this kidnapping, because our boys did not commit any crime in the United States, none,” CNN quoted Maduro as telling supporters on Wednesday, in a reference to El Salvador President, who, reports suggest, has struck a deal with US President Donald Trump.
“They were not brought to trial, they were not given the right to a defense, the right to due process, they were deceived, handcuffed, put on a plane, kidnapped, and sent to a concentration camp in El Salvador,” Maduro reportedly said.
He announced that Venezuela would send an “official document” to El Salvador requesting the deportees’ return, supported by “millions” of signatures from the country’s citizens.
The deportation has sparked widespread outrage in Venezuela, with many citizens taking to the streets of Caracas on Tuesday to protest the move. Demonstrators held rallies in solidarity with the deportees and their families, who have vehemently denied that their loved ones had any connection to criminal activities.
According to the CNN report, Maduro stated that his government would intensify efforts to repatriate Venezuelan migrants detained in the US, promising that they would receive “respect, dignity, support, and a return to their homeland and families,”
The deportations—ordered by Trump under the assertion that the deportees were linked to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang—were carried out over the weekend, and involved 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans, the report stated.
This notorious group, which is connected to activities such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, and money laundering, was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the Trump administration in January, along with the Salvadoran MS-13 gang.
Earlier this week, Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime law—the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—to authorise the deportations, despite a court ruling that had temporarily halted the action.
His administration justified the move by claiming the US was facing an “invasion” of migrants, even Trump labelled the deported individuals as part of a “bad group.”
The White House has yet to release concrete evidence linking the deportees to Tren de Aragua, though US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has claimed it conducted a thorough review of the individuals’ profiles to verify their alleged ties to criminal groups. The names of the deported individuals have not been disclosed.
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