Editor,

During March and April 2025, Trump deported 252 alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador. The Salvadorian President Bukele charged the U.S. $6 million for incarcerating these individuals for a year. The average cost of detaining, processing and deporting these individuals would be about $8.5 million, equating to $75,500 thousand per individual for a year.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has confirmed that prisoners were subjected to constant beatings, sexual assault, inadequate food and prolonged incommunicado detention, abuses constituting torture under international human rights laws. Despite Trump and his minions’ repetitious claims to target the “worst of the worst,” only 3% had been convicted of violent crimes.

In July, Bukele brokered a prisoner swap with Venezuelan President Maduro, releasing 252 Venezuelan prisoners for ten imprisoned Americans. The self-proclaimed consummate dealmaker the Donald could have easily picked up the phone and called Bukele and offered the 252 Venezuelans for the 10 Americans, an opportunity Bukele would have relished. A dime phone call would have saved U.S. taxpayers $14.5 million.

This deal was a prelude to the nefarious debauchery the Donald had in store. In 2019, the Department of Justice launched a years-long effort known as Task Force Vulcan to dismantle the leadership of the Salvadoran gang MS-13. As a result in 2020, the Department of Justice indicted fourteen top MS-13 leaders on terrorism, drug trafficking, and conspiracy charges.

As outlined in the indictment, three of the 14 indicted MS-13 leaders, including César Humberto López Larios, had information about a secret deal between President Bukele’s administration and MS-13 in which the criminal gang would support President Bukele’s campaign in exchange for facilitating the gang’s operations and cushy prison conditions. This damning evidence convinced Trump’s Department of State to designate MS-13 a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group in February 2025.

At the beset of Trump, the Department of Justice dismissed all charges against López Larios and dozens of others on March 11, 2025; they were expeditiously repatriated to El Salvador.

Trump demonstrated his core values about keeping drugs out of the U.S. by pardoning ex-Honduran president Hernandez, who was serving 45 years in U.S. prison for importing at least 185,000 kilograms of cocaine and other crimes. Rebuffing the justice system, Trump would rather attack and kill civilians on the high seas accused of drug smuggling without a shred of incriminating evidence.

Jack Gribble

Oak Harbor