Newsman: The Trump administration paid El Salvador $6 million to accept 261 alleged Venezuelan gang members deported from the United States over the weekend, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
Leavitt called the sum of money “pennies on the dollar” compared to the cost to house the deported members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in maximum-security prisons in the U.S.
During a briefing with reporters, Leavitt defended the administration invoking the seldom-used 1798 Alien Enemies Act to immediately deport the Venezuelan nationals without due process. The move came despite a federal judge blocking the deportation Saturday and ordering deportation planes be turned around.
Leavitt said the Trump administration complied with the judge’s order, arguing the Venezuelans were deported before the judge’s written order was released. But when pressed about a verbal order from the same judge that came earlier, Leavitt cited legal “questions” whether a verbal order carries the same weight as a written order.
