WASHINGTON: The United States has removed hundreds of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua using now-blocked authority from the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday.

“Hundreds of violent criminals were sent out of our country,“ Rubio said in a statement.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said in a post on X that 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang had arrived in his country and were immediately transferred to a “Terrorism Confinement Center” for a one-year period that could be renewed.

Bukele said the U.S. had also sent 23 members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, including two high-ranking members.

President Donald Trump on Friday invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime and contract killings.

A federal judge on Saturday blocked the application of the law for 14 days, saying the statute refers to “hostile acts” perpetrated by another country that are “commensurate to war.”