{"id":705,"date":"2025-03-17T09:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T09:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/17\/hundreds-of-venezuelans-sent-to-el-salvador-in-face-of-judges-order-trump-live-updates-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2025-03-17T09:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T09:13:08","slug":"hundreds-of-venezuelans-sent-to-el-salvador-in-face-of-judges-order-trump-live-updates-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/17\/hundreds-of-venezuelans-sent-to-el-salvador-in-face-of-judges-order-trump-live-updates-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of Venezuelans Sent to El Salvador in Face of Judge’s Order: Trump Live Updates – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Annie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A mother in Venezuela fears her son was deported and sent to a Salvadoran prison.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The government of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, Venezuela\u2019s president, has denounced the United States\u2019 deportation of 238 Venezuelans accused of gang membership to El Salvador.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Ariana Cubillos\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Mirelis Casique\u2019s 24-year-old son last spoke to her on Saturday morning from a detention center in Laredo, Texas. He told her he was going to be deported with a group of other Venezuelans, she said, but he didn\u2019t know where they were headed.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, his name disappeared from the website of the U.S. immigration authorities. She has not heard from him since.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNow he\u2019s in an abyss with no one to rescue him,\u201d Ms. Casique said on Sunday in an interview from her home in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The deportation of 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador this weekend has created panic among families who fear that their relatives are among those handed over by the Trump administration to the Salvadoran authorities, apparently without due process.<\/p>\n

The men were described by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, as \u201cterrorists\u201d belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang. She called them \u201cheinous monsters\u201d who had recently been arrested, \u201csaving countless American lives.\u201d But several relatives of men believed to be in the group say their loved ones do not have gang ties.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Salvadoran government released images of the men being marched into a notorious mega-prison in handcuffs overnight, with their heads newly shaven.<\/p>\n

Like other Venezuelan families, Ms. Casique has no proof that her son, Francisco Javier Garc\u00eda Casique, is part of the group, which was transferred to El Salvador on Saturday as part of a deal between President Nayib Bukele and the Trump administration. The Salvadoran leader has offered to hold the Venezuelan migrants at the expense of the U.S. government.<\/p>\n

However, Ms. Casique said that not only had her son\u2019s name disappeared from the website of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she also recognized him in one of the photos of the recently arrived deportees that El Salvador\u2019s government has circulated. When she saw him in the photograph, she said, she felt \u201cbroken at the injustice\u201d of what was taking place.<\/p>\n

Neither government has made public the names of the Venezuelan deportees, and a spokeswoman for the Salvadoran government did not respond to a request for confirmation that Ms. Casique\u2019s son was part of the group. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, did not respond to a request to confirm whether Mr. Garc\u00eda had been deported to El Salvador, either.<\/p>\n

Ms. Casique said she had identified Mr. Garc\u00eda by the tattoos on one of his arms, as well as by his build and complexion, though his face was not visible. The photo shows a group of men in white shirts and shorts with shaved heads, their arms restrained behind their backs.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Venezuelans have migrated to the United States in record numbers, as their country has spiraled into crisis under the government of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. Because Mr. Maduro, unlike most other leaders in the region, has not accepted regular deportation flights from the United States, the Trump administration has been looking for other ways to deport Venezuelans.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Venezuela\u2019s government forcefully denounced the transfer of the migrants to El Salvador, saying in a statement that the United States had used an outdated law \u2014 the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 \u2014 to carry out an illegal operation that violated both American and international laws.<\/p>\n

From the start of his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump has focused on Tren de Aragua and its presence in the United States. When he deported a large group of Venezuelans last month to Guant\u00e1namo, a U.S. military base on Cuba, Mr. Trump also said that the deportees belonged to the gang, a claim that some of their relatives have denied<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neither the United States nor the Salvadoran government has offered evidence that the migrants are connected to Tren de Aragua, a gang that originated in Venezuela\u2019s prisons but whose reach now extends throughout Latin America. Mr. Trump, whose government designated it a terrorist group, has zeroed in on incidents that, he said, show the presence of Tren de Aragua in the United States.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bukele said that the deportees would be held for at least a year and made to perform labor and attend workshops under a program called \u201cZero Idleness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Casique said her son had no gang affiliation and had entered the United States to seek asylum in late 2023, after several years spent working in Peru to support his family back home. During his journey north, he was injured in Mexico when he fell from a train, she said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Garc\u00eda, who had turned himself over to the authorities at the U.S. border, was detained at a routine appearance before immigration officers last year after they spotted his tattoos, Ms. Casique said.<\/p>\n

The tattoos, which she says include a crown with the word \u201cpeace\u201d in Spanish and the names of his mother, grandmother and sisters, led the authorities to place Mr. Garc\u00eda under investigation and label him as a suspected member of Tren de Aragua, according to Ms. Casique.<\/p>\n

Mr. Garc\u00eda remained in a detention center in Dallas for two months, his mother said, but a judge ultimately decided that he did not pose a danger and allowed him to be released as long as he wore an electronic device to track his movements.<\/p>\n

The New York Times could not independently verify why he had been held and released.<\/p>\n

After Mr. Trump\u2019s inauguration this year, Mr. Garc\u00eda became worried, but Ms. Casique remembered telling her son that he had nothing to fear: The administration said it would go after criminals first.<\/p>\n

But on Feb. 6, the authorities arrived at Mr. Garc\u00eda\u2019s door and took him into custody.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him to follow the country\u2019s rules, that he wasn\u2019t a criminal, and at most, they would deport him,\u201d Ms. Casique said. \u201cBut I was very na\u00efve \u2014 I thought the laws would protect him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabriel Labrador contributed reporting from San Salvador.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Devlin<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The White House denied that it had refused to comply with a judge\u2019s order to halt deportations of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act, saying the order had been issued after the migrants \u201chad already been removed from U.S. territory.\u201d The statement from Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, did not specify where the flight was at the time of order by the judge, James E. Boasberg, who said from the bench that flights carrying such immigrants return to the United States, \u201cwhether turning around the plane or not.\u201d The statement claimed the order \u201chad no lawful basis,\u201d but also said \u201ca single judge in a single city\u201d could not direct military movements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mattathias<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With deportation flights to El Salvador, Trump may have defied a judge\u2019s order.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Judge James E. Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to cease its use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as a pretext for the expulsion of migrants.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Trump administration moved one large step closer to a constitutional showdown with the judicial branch of government when airplane-loads of Venezuelan detainees deplaned in El Salvador even though a federal judge had ordered that the planes reverse course and return the detainees to the United States.<\/p>\n

The right-wing president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, bragged that the 238 detainees who had been aboard the aircraft were transferred to a Salvadoran \u201cTerrorism Confinement Center,\u201d where they would be held for at least a year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOopsie \u2026 Too late,\u201d Mr. Bukele wrote in a social media post on Sunday morning that was recirculated<\/a> by the White House communications director, Steven Cheung.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in another social media post<\/a>, thanked Mr. Bukele for a lengthy post detailing<\/a> the migrants\u2019 incarceration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sure looks like contempt of court to me,\u201d said David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University. \u201cYou can turn around a plane if you want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some details of the government\u2019s actions remained unclear, including the exact time the planes landed. In a Sunday afternoon filing, the Trump administration said the State Department and Homeland Security Department were \u201cpromptly notified\u201d of the judge\u2019s written order when it was posted to the electronic docket at 7:26 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday. The filing implied that the government had a different legal authority for deporting the Venezuelans besides the one blocked by the judge, which could provide a basis for them to remain in El Salvador while the order is appealed.<\/p>\n

The administration said that the five plaintiffs who filed suit to block their deportations \u2014 the suit that yielded the judge\u2019s order \u2014 had not been deported.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, legal analysts were still stitching together the timeline, trying to determine where the planes were shortly before 7 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday \u2014 and how close the Trump administration is to open defiance of the Constitution\u2019s system of checks and balances.<\/p>\n

That was when Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the Trump administration to cease its use of an obscure wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798<\/a>, as a pretext for the expulsion of migrants, and immediately return anyone it was expelling under the act to the United States.<\/p>\n

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Image<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

\u201cOopsie \u2026 Too late,\u201d President Nayib Bukele wrote in a social media post on Sunday about the deportation of Venezuelans to his country from the United States.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Marvin Recinos\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Regardless of the timing, Judge Boasberg\u2019s order appeared to have been brushed aside by the Trump administration, which went ahead and turned the Venezuelans over to the government of El Salvador for detention. In touting the event, Mr. Rubio made no mention of Judge Boasberg\u2019s order. On Saturday, the judge had ordered the government to return anyone removed under the Alien Enemies Act to U.S. soil, \u201chowever that\u2019s accomplished \u2014 whether turning around the plane or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, issued a statement on Sunday denying that the administration had refused to comply with the order, and questioning the judge\u2019s authority to issue it.<\/p>\n

In a 25-page appellate filing on Sunday, Justice Department lawyers called the order by Judge Boasberg, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, a \u201cmassive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive\u2019s authority.\u201d Mr. Trump\u2019s actions, they argued, \u201care not subject to judicial review\u201d because of what they said was the presidency\u2019s inherent constitutional authority over national security and foreign policy matters, and that the federal courts as a whole lacked jurisdiction over his exercise of a \u201cwar power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal judges have been clashing with the Trump administration for weeks over dozens of executive actions that the courts have tried to put on temporary hold while their legality is assessed. In some cases, plaintiffs who sued the administration and won obtained favorable judicial orders have returned to court saying the administration was failing to comply with them.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University\u2019s medical school was deported<\/a> from the United States, even though a court had ordered her expulsion temporarily blocked, according to her attorney and federal court documents.<\/p>\n

But the mockery by Mr. Bukele \u2014 and the tacit endorsements of it by senior administration officials \u2014 seemed to push Washington closer to a constitutional crisis, critics of the administration said Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cCourt order defied,\u201d wrote Mark S. Zaid, a Washington lawyer whose legal fights with the administration have put him in Mr. Trump\u2019s cross hairs. In a social media post, Mr. Zaid said the events on Saturday and Sunday were the \u201cstart of true constitutional crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other experts were concerned but more cautious.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a little more development of the facts,\u201d said Adam Winkler, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. \u201cIf the report is true about timing, then it does seem like the administration has ignored a binding court order. And if that\u2019s the case, then the courts must act swiftly to punish the Trump administration. We cannot have the executive branch ignoring the orders of the judicial branch.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the Trump administration claimed authority<\/a> under the Alien Enemies Act to immediately deport any Venezuelan citizen age 14 or older who the administration says is a member of Tren de Aragua, a violent criminal gang that was designated a foreign terrorist organization<\/a> in February. In its proclamation on Saturday, the White House called the gang a \u201chybrid criminal state\u201d that was \u201cperpetrating an invasion\u201d of the United States, justifying use of the 1798 law, which had only been invoked three times before \u2014 for the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, anticipating that step, five Venezuelans in federal custody filed a class-action lawsuit<\/a> claiming that their expulsion on that basis would violate federal law and the Constitution\u2019s guarantee to due process. Judge Boasberg soon issued a restraining order blocking their removal.<\/p>\n

Then, in a hearing on Saturday afternoon, lawyers for the plaintiffs told the judge that two planes carrying other Venezuelans expelled under the Alien Enemies Act were \u201cin the air.\u201d From the bench, shortly before 7 p.m., Judge Boasberg ordered the government to turn the planes around and bring the detainees back. Then he issued a second written order barring the government from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport any suspected members of Tren De Aragua.<\/p>\n

The flights to El Salvador marked the second time in quick succession that the administration has been accused of deporting someone in violation of a court order. Lawyers for Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a doctor specializing in kidney transplant patients and a professor at Brown University\u2019s medical school, said she was deported<\/a> on Friday despite a court order to the contrary from Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the Federal District Court in Massachusetts. On Sunday, Judge Sorokin gave the government a Monday deadline to respond to charges that it had \u201cwillfully disobeyed\u201d his order.<\/p>\n

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detaining a man in Denver earlier this year.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Kevin Mohatt\/Reuters<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Skye Perryman, chief executive of Democracy Forward, which has helped bring a multitude of lawsuits against the Trump administration, said she still expects the government to comply with court orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to work through the courts to ensure that orders are faithfully executed and \u2014 if not \u2014 that there is accountability for the government,\u201d she said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Friday that court orders blocking Mr. Trump\u2019s agenda were \u201cunconstitutional and unfair.\u201d That added to speculation, prompted by statements made by Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance on social media, that the White House might openly defy the judiciary, which under the Constitution is a branch of government equal in authority to the executive.<\/p>\n

Mr. Super, the Georgetown law professor, said the Justice Department\u2019s arguments for deference to the president\u2019s sole power to conduct foreign policy may be weighed by an appeals court when it considers whether to uphold Judge Boasberg\u2019s order, but they do not provide a justification for violating the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to comply with court orders until they\u2019re reversed,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise, you and I become our own courts. We follow what we think is right, we violate what we think is wrong, and the judges may as well go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Balk, Alan Feuer, Charlie Savage, Maggie Haberman, Devlin Barrett, Annie Correal and Dana Goldstein contributed reporting. Seamus Hughes contributed research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Minho<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some Democrats are seething at Schumer for allowing the spending bill to pass.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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After Senator Chuck Schumer\u2019s reversal, critics within his own party accused him of having squandered the leverage provided by the standoff to negotiate a bipartisan spending bill.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Many Democratic lawmakers continued to express deep frustration at Senator Chuck Schumer on Sunday for having broken with most of his party to allow a Republican spending bill to pass, as the Democratic base increasingly demands stauncher resistance to President Trump\u2019s far-reaching agenda.<\/p>\n

Mr. Schumer, a New York Democrat and the Senate minority leader, joined nine other Democrats in allowing the bill to come to a vote, which averted a government shutdown. It was an abrupt reversal from Wednesday, when he said he would oppose the bill.<\/p>\n

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Explaining his sudden shift in position, Mr. Schumer argued that a shutdown would empower Mr. Trump and Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency. \u201cA shutdown would shut down all government agencies, and it would solely be up to Trump and DOGE and Musk what to open again, because they could determine what was essential,\u201d he told The New York Times in an interview<\/a>. \u201cSo their goal of decimating the whole federal government, of cutting agency after agency after agency, would occur under a shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

But to critics within his own party, he had squandered the leverage provided by the standoff to negotiate a bipartisan spending bill that would reclaim some of Congress\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is absolutely wrong,\u201d Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas, told CNN on Sunday. \u201cThe idea that Chuck Schumer is the only one that\u2019s got a brain in the room and the only one that can think through all of the pros and cons is absolutely ridiculous.\u201d <\/p>\n

The stream of criticism that Mr. Schumer has faced since his vote<\/a> comes as the Democratic Party is divided on how best to oppose Mr. Trump\u2019s<\/a> agenda while facing dismal polling numbers. An NBC poll released on Sunday<\/a> showed that just 27 percent of voters had positive views of the party, while a majority of its base expressed disappointment at the Democrats\u2019 fractured response.<\/p>\n

Ms. Crockett has called on her Senate colleagues to consider ousting Mr. Schumer as minority leader, suggesting that \u201ca younger, fresher leadership\u201d is what \u201cmany Americans may be looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, told MSNBC that the House minority leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, \u201cgot blindsided\u201d by Mr. Schumer. House Democrats \u2014 all but one opposed the bill \u2014 had voted against giving Mr. Trump \u201ca blank check,\u201d Mr. Clyburn said. On Friday, Mr. Jeffries dodged repeated questions<\/a> on whether he still supported Mr. Schumer as the leader of Senate Democrats.<\/p>\n

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Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader and Democrat of New York, center, ahead of the Senate vote on a funding bill on Friday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Anna Rose Layden for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Another House Democrat, Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan, was a little more understanding, saying that Mr. Schumer had \u201csent out mixed signals.\u201d But she stressed that even the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest labor union representing federal workers, whose members would be furloughed during a government shutdown, opposed the stopgap bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are scared, and they want us to do something,\u201d Ms. Dingell said on CBS. \u201cThey want to see Democrats fighting back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, did not denounce Mr. Schumer but pleaded for a change in tactics and for a more steadfast resistance against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way the president is acting using law enforcement to target dissidents, harassing TV stations and radio stations that criticize him, endorsing political violence, puts our democracy at immediate risk,\u201d Mr. Murphy said on NBC. Over the past few weeks, Mr. Trump has revoked security clearances of lawyers<\/a> who argued against him, dismantled congressionally funded news agencies<\/a> and pardoned those convicted of attacking the Capitol<\/a> on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n

Mr. Murphy added, \u201cIf you are a Democrat in the Senate or in the House you have to start acting with urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prominent House Democrats, including Representative Nancy Pelosi, had pressed their Senate colleagues to block the bill. But more than a handful of Democratic senators joined Mr. Schumer in helping Republicans bring the bill to a vote: Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, as well as two who have announced plans to retire, Gary Peters of Michigan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, also voted yes.<\/p>\n

Some Democrats, including Representatives Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts and Haley Stevens of Michigan, refrained from openly criticizing Mr. Schumer\u2019s shift. They said Democratic infighting after the bill\u2019s passage<\/a> would only emphasize the divisions within the party. They warned that it would also draw voters\u2019 attention away from Trump trade policies that have dampened the stock market<\/a> and imbued uncertainty into the broader economy<\/a> \u2014 developments that Democrats said could play to their advantage.<\/p>\n

Ashley Etienne, a former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris, told CNN that Democrats should not save Mr. Trump and Republicans from themselves. \u201cGet out of the way,\u201d she said. \u201cDonald Trump said he was better for the economy. Let him prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Dana<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A doctor and professor is deported despite a judge\u2019s order.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The Brown University campus in Providence, R.I.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Ian MacLellan for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University\u2019s medical school has been deported from the United States, even though she had a valid visa and a court order temporarily blocking her expulsion, according to her lawyer and court papers.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, is a Lebanese citizen who had traveled to her home country last month to visit relatives. She was detained on Thursday when she returned from that trip to the United States, according to a court complaint filed by her cousin Yara Chehab.<\/p>\n

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Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the Federal District Court in Massachusetts ordered the government on Friday evening to provide the court with 48 hours\u2019 notice before deporting Dr. Alawieh. But she was put on a flight to Paris, presumably on her way to Lebanon.<\/p>\n

In a second order filed Sunday morning, the judge said there was reason to believe U.S. Customs and Border Protection had willfully disobeyed his previous order to give the court notice before expelling the doctor. He said he had followed \u201ccommon practice in this district as it has been for years,\u201d and ordered the federal agency to respond to what he called \u201cserious allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customs and Border Protection did not respond on Sunday to questions from The New York Times about why Dr. Alawieh had been detained and deported. Lebanon is not included on a draft list of nations<\/a> from which the Trump administration is considering banning entry to the United States.<\/p>\n

A hearing in Dr. Alawieh\u2019s case is scheduled for Monday.<\/p>\n

Court documents related to the case were provided to The New York Times by Clare Saunders, a member of the legal team representing Ms. Chehab, who filed petitions to prevent her cousin\u2019s deportation, and then to request that her cousin be allowed to return to the United States.<\/p>\n

Ms. Chehab\u2019s petitions name several members of the Trump administration as defendants, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Peter Flores.<\/p>\n

Thomas Brown, a lawyer representing Dr. Alawieh and her employer, Brown Medicine, said that while the doctor was in Lebanon, the U.S. Consulate issued her an H-1B visa, which allows highly skilled foreign citizens to live and work in the United States. Brown Medicine, a nonprofit medical practice, had sponsored her application for the visa.<\/p>\n

According to Ms. Chehab\u2019s complaint, when Dr. Alawieh landed at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday, she was detained by Customs and Border Protection officers and held at the airport for 36 hours, for reasons that are unclear.<\/p>\n

Ms. Saunders, the lawyer, said in an affidavit that she went to the airport Friday and notified Customs and Border Protection officials there \u2014 before the flight to Paris was scheduled to depart \u2014 that there was a court order barring the doctor\u2019s expulsion. She said that the officers took no action and gave her no information until after the plane had taken off.<\/p>\n

Dr. Alawieh graduated from the American University of Beirut in 2015. Three years later, she came to the United States, where she held medical fellowships at the Ohio State University and the University of Washington, and then worked as a resident at Yale.<\/p>\n

Before the new visa was issued, she held a J-1 visa, a type commonly used by foreign students.<\/p>\n

There is a shortage of American doctors working in Dr. Alawieh\u2019s area of specialty, transplant nephrology. Foreign-born physicians play an important role in the field, according to experts.<\/p>\n

Fear over immigration status could \u201charm the pipeline even more,\u201d said Dr. George Bayliss, who works in the Brown Medicine kidney transplant program with Dr. Alawieh.<\/p>\n

Her patients included individuals awaiting transplants and those dealing with the complex conditions that can occur after a transplant, Dr. Bayliss said. He called Dr. Alawieh \u201ca very talented, very thoughtful physician.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all outraged,\u201d he added, \u201cand none of us know why this happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Sunday letter to members of the university community, Brown\u2019s administration advised foreign students, ahead of spring break, to \u201cconsider postponing or delaying personal travel outside the United States until more information is available from the U.S. Department of State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.<\/p>\n

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A correction was made on<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

March 16, 2025<\/p>\n

:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of an editing error, an earlier headline with this article referred incorrectly to Dr. Rasha Alawieh\u2019s medical specialty. She is a nephrologist, not a surgeon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"David<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As Voice of America goes dark, some broadcasts are replaced by music.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The Voice of America studio in Washington. On Saturday, hundreds of journalists and other employees at the organization\u2019s headquarters were informed that they were being put on paid leave.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Jason Andrew for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

For more than 80 years, Voice of America<\/a> transmitted the news into countries, many of them authoritarian, where reliable sources of information about the outside world were often hard to come by.<\/p>\n

Now those broadcasts \u2014 long viewed as an important part of U.S. efforts to promote democracy and transparency overseas \u2014 are flickering out.<\/p>\n

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Hours after President Trump signed an executive order on Friday calling for the dismantling<\/a> of the federal agency that oversees Voice of America, hundreds of journalists, executives and other employees at the organization\u2019s headquarters in Washington were informed that they were being put on paid leave. Employees said they quickly lost access to their work email and other communications programs.<\/p>\n

Much of Voice of America\u2019s content is produced in Washington and then transmitted to a network of affiliates worldwide. With most of Voice of America\u2019s work force locked out, at least some of its radio frequencies in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere went dark or began airing nothing but music, employees said.<\/p>\n

In other cases, radio, television and digital outlets that used Voice of America programming will remain online but without contributions from the United States. Some of those affiliates also carry content provided by state media from countries like Russia and China, which Voice of America\u2019s programming had, in effect, countered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have pulled the plug operationally,\u201d said David Z. Seide, a lawyer at the Government Accountability Project who defends federal whistle-blowers and who represents some Voice of America journalists.<\/p>\n

Mr. Seide said he was considering legal challenges aimed at reinstating Voice of America journalists. The American Foreign Service Association, whose ranks include Voice of America employees, said it<\/a> \u201cwill mount a vigorous defense\u201d of those employees.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s efforts to shut down Voice of America are part of a broader campaign<\/a> to weaken the news media. The White House, for example, has barred The Associated Press from covering certain events over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Mr. Trump and his allies have sued news outlets, and his allies have said they are eyeing more<\/a> litigation.<\/p>\n

Voice of America began broadcasting in 1942, part of a federal effort during World War II to combat Nazi propaganda in Latin America and elsewhere. During the Cold War, its shortwave radio broadcasts behind the Iron Curtain were part of the U.S. government\u2019s campaign to counter communism and foster freedom. At least until this weekend, Voice of America transmitted reports in dozens of languages and reached hundreds of millions of listeners outside the United States, including in countries like China and Iran, whose governments impose strict controls on outside news sources.<\/p>\n

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Image<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

A 2002 taping of a news broadcast by the Farsi service of Voice of America.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Paul Hosefros\/The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Voice of America\u2019s charter was designed to protect its editorial independence from whichever administration is in power. Its mandate<\/a> is to serve as a reliable source of news, to present \u201ca balanced and comprehensive\u201d portrait of America, and to \u201cpresent the policies of the United States clearly and effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Mr. Trump\u2019s first term, the White House repeatedly railed against what it saw as Voice of America\u2019s liberal bias. The administration\u2019s efforts to align the taxpayer-financed broadcaster with Mr. Trump\u2019s agenda, including by conducting internal investigations of some of its journalists, were later deemed improper by federal investigators.<\/p>\n

This year, Mr. Trump has moved swiftly<\/a> to quiet the broadcaster. He tapped a right-wing former TV news anchor, Kari Lake, to run Voice of America. Even before she arrived, the broadcaster began discouraging its journalists from saying or writing things that could be construed as critical of Mr. Trump \u2014 part of an attempt that its leaders hoped would help fend off attacks by the president.<\/p>\n

The White House on Saturday issued a news release denouncing what it said was the broadcaster\u2019s role in spreading \u201cradical propaganda\u201d and accusing its employees of entrenched left-wing bias. It is the same critique that Mr. Trump and his allies routinely make about the traditional media.<\/p>\n

Steven Herman, a longtime Voice of America correspondent, was put on an extended \u201cexcused absence\u201d this month, pending a human-resources investigation into his social media posts about the Trump administration. On Saturday, he published what he described as a \u201crequiem<\/a>\u201d for the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo \u200beffectively shutter the Voice of America is to dim a beacon that burned bright during some of the darkest hours since 1942,\u201d Mr. Herman wrote.<\/p>\n

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A correction was made on<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

March 16, 2025<\/p>\n

:\u00a0<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this article misstated the middle initial of David Seide, a lawyer at the Government Accountability Project. It\u2019s Z, not K.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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SKIP ADVERTISEMENT<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Stephanie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A Cornell graduate student fearing deportation files a pre-emptive lawsuit.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The Cornell University campus in Ithaca, N.Y., has been the scene of demonstrations over the conflict in Gaza.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Heather Ainsworth for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

An international graduate student at Cornell University filed a lawsuit on Saturday to block enforcement of two White House executive orders that, he fears, could result in his deportation from the United States for pro-Palestinian activism.<\/p>\n

The suit was filed by Momodou Taal<\/a>, a doctoral student in Africana studies at Cornell and an outspoken critic of U.S. policy in the Middle East. It cites a threat made by President Trump after the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil<\/a>, a recent graduate of Columbia University and legal U.S. resident whom the Trump administration is trying to deport.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is the first arrest of many to come,\u201d Mr. Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social after federal agents picked up Mr. Khalil at his Manhattan apartment on March 8. Mr. Trump called pro-Palestinian activists like Mr. Khalil \u201cterrorist sympathizers\u201d and said \u201cwe will find, apprehend and deport\u201d them, \u201cnever to return again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Columbia student, Leqaa Kordia<\/a> was later detained for overstaying her visa, and yet another, Ranjani Srinivasan<\/a>, left the country voluntarily after her visa was revoked.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of New York, asks for national injunctions to block two executive orders issued in February. Both are aimed at the removal or arrest of pro-Palestinian activists or anyone else whom the administration deems guilty of antisemitic speech. A hearing could be held as soon as Monday, according to Mr. Taal\u2019s lawyer, Eric Lee.<\/p>\n

Two other plaintiffs \u2014 a professor and another student at Cornell who are both American citizens \u2014 joined Mr. Taal in the suit, arguing that the executive orders chill their rights to free speech.<\/p>\n

Mr. Taal, 31, is a citizen of both Gambia and the United Kingdom. He has become known on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, N.Y., as a leading pro-Palestinian voice.<\/p>\n

He faced disciplinary action from the university stemming from a protest at a job recruitment event at Cornell last year where weapons manufacturers were among the featured prospective employers. His involvement in that protest led Cornell to require that he study remotely this semester, but he retained his status as a student.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, Mr. Taal argues that his activism has made him a target of the Trump administration\u2019s plans, based partly on a list that was circulated by a pro-Zionist organization, Betar. According to the lawsuit, Betar submitted Mr. Taal\u2019s name to lawmakers, including Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Mr. Fetterman said on Sunday that his office was not aware of having received such a list. <\/p>\n

The lawsuit also cites an article<\/a> in The Washington Free Beacon, a right-leaning publication, that named Mr. Taal as the most important student who could face possible deportation under Mr. Trump\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Annie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The government of Venezuela has forcefully condemned the transfer of hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador<\/a> and the Trump administration\u2019s use of the Alien Enemies Act. In a statement released Sunday, President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s government said that the act flew in the face of U.S. and international laws, adding that the attempt to apply it \u201cconstitutes a crime against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Annie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The statement compared the transfer of Venezuelans to \u201cthe darkest episodes of human history,\u201d including slavery and Nazi concentration camps. In particular, the government denounced what it called a threat to kidnap minors as young as 14 by labeling them as terrorists, claiming that the minors were \u201cconsidered criminals simply for being Venezuelan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Annie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The government\u2019s statement blamed the United States for the mass migration of Venezuelans, saying years of sanctions \u2014 which have been imposed by the U.S. over Maduro\u2019s autocratic rule \u2014 had driven its people to flee. It also blamed members of the opposition in Venezuela for working with the United States on what he called \u201cunilateral coercive measures\u201d against the Maduro regime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Tyler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When asked what his plans were if President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia did not agree to the U.S.-backed proposal for a cease-fire in Ukraine, President Trump said it would be \u201cbad news\u201d for the world. \u201cBut I think, I think he\u2019s going to agree, I really do,\u201d Trump said in an interview on the syndicated news program \u201cFull Measure\u201d that was taped Friday and aired Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n

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\"Tyler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday defended the detention of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and permanent legal resident of the United States, who was arrested by immigration authorities earlier this month. Rubio said Khalil was the negotiator for protesters who took over buildings at Columbia during demonstrations against the war in Gaza. \u201cThese guys take over entire buildings,\u201d he said, speaking on CBS. \u201cThey vandalize colleges. They shut down colleges.\u201d Rubio said the U.S. should have never allowed Khalil into the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Trump sent hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador in the face of a judge\u2019s order.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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A photo provided by El Salvador\u2019s Presidency Press Office shows police officers escorting Venezuelan men into prison as part of a transfer deal between El Salvador and the Trump administration.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>El Salvador’s Presidency Press Office, via Reuters<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Trump administration denied on Sunday that it had violated a court order by deporting hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a prison in El Salvador over the weekend, saying that the president had broad powers to quickly expel them under an 18th-century law meant for wartime.<\/p>\n

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also asserted in a statement that the federal courts \u201chave no jurisdiction\u201d over the president\u2019s conduct of foreign affairs or his power to expel foreign enemies.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil,\u201d she said in a statement. It was unclear why she referred to an aircraft carrier, because all indications were that the Venezuelans had been flown to El Salvador.<\/p>\n

While White House officials exulted over what they see as a precedent-setting victory in their efforts to speed up deportations, the comments also tacitly acknowledge that the court battles over their legal rationale may be just beginning.<\/p>\n

President Trump signed an executive order on Friday invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798<\/a> to rapidly arrest and deport those the administration identifies as members of the Tren de Aragua gang without many of the legal processes common in immigration cases. The enemies law allows for summary deportations<\/a> of people from countries at war with the United States.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Judge James E. Boasberg of Federal District Court in Washington issued a temporary restraining order blocking the government from deporting any immigrants under the law after Mr. Trump\u2019s order invoking it.<\/p>\n

In a hastily scheduled hearing sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the judge said he did not believe that federal law allowed the president\u2019s action. He also ordered that any flights that had departed with Venezuelan immigrants under the executive order return to the United States \u201chowever that\u2019s accomplished \u2014 whether turning around the plane or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something you need to make sure is complied with immediately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Officials have not said when the deportation flights landed in El Salvador, but Ms. Leavitt insisted on Sunday that the migrants \u201chad already been removed from U.S. territory\u201d at the time of the judge\u2019s order. She did not say whether the planes could have, as the judge ordered, turned around and returned to the United States.<\/p>\n

El Salvador\u2019s president, Nayib Bukele, posted a three-minute video on social media of men in handcuffs being led off a plane during the night and marched into prison. The video also shows prison officials shaving the prisoners\u2019 heads.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration hopes that the unusual prisoner transfer deal \u2014 not a swap but an agreement for El Salvador to take those suspected of being gang members \u2014 will be the beginning of a larger effort to use the Alien Enemies Act.<\/p>\n

That law, best known for its role in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, has been invoked three times in U.S. history \u2014 during the War of 1812 and both World Wars \u2014 according to the Brennan Center for Justice<\/a>, a law and policy organization. American officials familiar with the deal said that the United States would pay El Salvador about $6 million to house the prisoners.<\/p>\n

During the hearing on Saturday, Judge Boasberg said he was ordering the government to turn flights around given \u201cinformation, unrebutted by the government, that flights are actively departing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lawyer representing the government, Drew Ensign, told Judge Boasberg that he did not have many details to share, and that describing operational details would raise \u201cnational security issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of the flights to El Salvador is important because Judge Boasberg issued his order shortly before 7 p.m. in Washington, but video posted from El Salvador shows the deportees disembarking the plane at night. El Salvador is two time zones behind Washington, which raises questions about whether the Trump administration had ignored an explicit court order.<\/p>\n

Judge Boasberg\u2019s order to turn flights around came after he told the government earlier on Saturday not to deport five Venezuelan men who were the initial focus of the legal fight. The Trump administration is appealing the judge\u2019s order.<\/p>\n

In a court filing, the Trump administration said the Departments of State and Homeland Security were \u201cpromptly notified\u201d of the judge\u2019s written order when it was posted to the electronic docket at 7:26 p.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The administration said that the five plaintiffs who filed suit to block their deportations \u2014 the suit that yielded the judge\u2019s first order on Saturday \u2014 had not been deported.<\/p>\n

The filing added that \u201csome gang members subject to removal\u201d by the president\u2019s decree \u201chad already been removed\u201d from U.S. territory before Judge Boasberg issued the second, broader order.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Mr. Bukele posted a screenshot on social media about Judge Boasberg\u2019s order and wrote, \u201cOopsie\u2026 Too late.\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio later shared Mr. Bukele\u2019s post from his personal account.<\/p>\n

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President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador hosted Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Pool photo by Mark Schiefelbein<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized the judge on Saturday night in a statement, writing that he had sided with \u201cterrorists over the safety of Americans,\u201d and that his order \u201cdisregards well-established authority regarding President Trump\u2019s power, and it puts the public and law enforcement at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Venezuelan government denounced the transfer, saying that it flew in the face of U.S. and international laws and adding that the attempt to apply the Alien Enemies Act \u201cconstitutes a crime against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement compared the transfer with \u201cthe darkest episodes of human history,\u201d including slavery and Nazi concentration camps. In particular, Venezuela denounced what it called a threat to kidnap minors as young as 14 by labeling them as terrorists, claiming that the minors were \u201cconsidered criminals simply for being Venezuelan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government of Venezuela\u2019s president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, has presented an obstacle to the Trump administration as it plans to step up deportations \u2014 and to target people suspected of being Tren de Aragua members \u2014 because for years it has not regularly accepted deportation flights. In recent weeks, Mr. Maduro has gone back and forth<\/a> on whether his government would accept such flights with Venezuelans from United States.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Trump administration has sought alternative destinations, including the naval base at Guant\u00e1namo Bay, Cuba, where it has sent some migrants, including those suspected of being gang members, though it has since removed them from the base<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an unusual turn, El Salvador has presented Mr. Trump with another alternative.<\/p>\n

In early February, while Mr. Rubio was visiting El Salvador, Mr. Bukele offered to take in deportees of any nationality, including convicted criminals, and jail them in part of El Salvador\u2019s prison system, for a fee.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rubio, who announced the offer at the time, said that Mr. Bukele had agreed to jail \u201cany illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal of any nationality, whether from MS-13 or the Tren de Aragua.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials from both the United States and El Salvador revealed that the deal with the Trump administration also included the transfer of suspected members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 who were being held in the United States awaiting charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador,\u201d Mr. Rubio posted on social media on Sunday. Mr. Rubio added that \u201cover 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua\u201d had also been sent to El Salvador, which \u201chas agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two MS-13 men mentioned by Mr. Rubio were one accused of being a top leader, and one suspected of being a gang member. <\/p>\n

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Image<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Mr. Bukele said the deportees had been taken to his country\u2019s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which can hold up to 40,000 inmates, some of them as young as 12.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Salvador Melendez\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The first, Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, was among 14 of the gang\u2019s highest-ranking leaders who were charged on Long Island in 2020. He was arrested last year in Texas and has since been in U.S. custody awaiting trial.<\/p>\n

The second, Cesar Eliseo Sorto-Amaya, was arrested in February on charges that he had entered the United States illegally \u2014 for the fourth time since 2015. He was wanted on double aggravated homicide charges in El Salvador, where he had been sentenced in absentia to 50 years in prison. The U.S. charges against both men were dismissed on Tuesday, according to court records that were unsealed on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors wrote to the judge in Mr. Lopez-Larios\u2019s case that the U.S. government had decided that \u201csensitive and important foreign policy considerations outweigh the government\u2019s interest in pursuing the prosecution of the defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two men\u2019s transfers have raised concerns among some U.S. law enforcement officials, who fear that those individuals, once out of U.S. custody, could escape or issue orders that may endanger witnesses in both countries, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bukele came to power on promises to crack down on gang violence and MS-13. His success in restoring safety has won him broad support in El Salvador and around Latin America, but critics say that it has come at the cost of human rights.<\/p>\n

By imposing a state of emergency, he has sidestepped due process and ordered sweeping arrests that have ensnared thousands of people without any affiliation to criminal groups, critics say. Under Mr. Bukele, the prison population has soared and abuses, including torture, have been documented in the system.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bukele has promoted his iron-fisted approach by posting dramatic photographs from his country\u2019s prisons<\/a> that resemble those shared this weekend: They often feature scores of tattooed inmates with shaved heads held in handcuffs and forced into submissive poses.<\/p>\n

Tim Balk contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

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A correction was made on<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

March 16, 2025<\/p>\n

:\u00a0<\/p>\n

An earlier version of this article misstated the day U.S. charges against two men accused of being MS-13 members were dismissed. It was Tuesday, not Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Tyler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that \u201cthere are no guarantees\u201d there won\u2019t be a recession, as he defended the administration\u2019s tariff strategy. \u201cI am confident that the American people will come our way,\u201d he said on \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on NBC. Bessent also dismissed the turmoil in the stock market<\/a> last week. \u201cI\u2019m not worried about the markets,\u201d he said. \u201cOver the long term, if we put good tax policy in place, deregulation and energy security, the markets will do great.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Tyler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in the investment business for 35 years, and I can tell you that corrections are healthy,\u201d Bessent said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Carol<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Michael Waltz, President Trump\u2019s national security adviser, has described the U.S. attacks on targets in Yemen<\/a> on Saturday as both successful and effective. \u201cWe hit the Houthi leadership, killing several of their key leaders last night, their infrastructure, the missiles,\u201d he said on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d He cast the Houthis as \u201cessentially Al Qaeda with sophisticated Iranian-backed air defenses and anti-ship cruise missiles and drones that has attacked the entire global economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Carol<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAll options are on the table,\u201d Waltz said in response to a question on \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d about whether President Trump would move ahead with new sanctions on Russia this week, as the administraton tries to pressure President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to agree to a cease-fire in Ukraine. \u201cHe has put that out there on the table. And he has also put out a broader and different bilateral relationship with Russia on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Tyler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Steve Witkoff, Trump\u2019s special envoy to the Middle East, said he expects Trump and Putin to speak this week as the U.S. tries to finalize a monthlong cease-fire deal between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking on CNN, Witkoff said he had a positive meeting with Putin last week that lasted between three and four hours. He declined to share the specifics of their conversation, but he said he remains optimistic that a deal is within reach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Enjoli<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador posted on social media on Sunday morning saying that \u201cthe first 238 members\u201d of the Tren de Aragua gang had arrived in the country. \u201cThe United States will pay a very low fee for them, but a high one for us,\u201d he wrote, in an apparent reference to the agreement mentioned by Rubio.<\/p>\n

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Image<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Credit…<\/span>Jose Diaz\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Enjoli<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on social media this morning that the Trump administration had sent two \u201ctop MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice\u201d in El Salvador. He said the Trump administration had also sent more than 250 members of the transnational gang, Tren de Aragua.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Enjoli<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rubio said that El Salvador had agreed<\/a> to hold the gang members \u201cin their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.\u201d He thanked and praised President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, calling him \u201ca great friend of the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Eve<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A gang with roots in a Venezuelan prison is at the center of President Trump\u2019s order invoking the Alien Enemies Act.<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Image<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Firearms recovered from an operation against Tren de Aragua were on display during a news conference by the Queens district attorney in January.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Christian Monterrosa for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

President Trump\u2019s executive order on Saturday invoking the Alien Enemies Act<\/a> targeted Venezuelan citizens 14 years and older with ties to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, saying they \u201care liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as Alien Enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s order was quickly challenged in court, but the gang has been a growing source of concern for U.S. officials over the last year. The Biden administration labeled<\/a> Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization in 2024, the New York Police Department has highlighted its activity on the East Coast, and the Trump White House began the process of designating<\/a> it a foreign terrorist organization in January.<\/p>\n

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Here is what we know about the gang:<\/p>\n