Trump thanks El Salvador for taking in alleged gang members deported from US: ‘We will not forget’

President Donald Trump thanked El Salvador on Sunday after the country's president shared dramatic video of hundreds of alleged migrant criminals landing in Central America after being deported from the U.S.

Trump, who recently invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing, thanked Nayib Bukele on social media.

"Thank you to El Salvador and, in particular, President Bukele, for your understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen to the United States because of incompetent Democrat leadership," Trump wrote. "We will not forget!"

Trump also referred to the apprehended migrants as "the monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats."

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A senior Trump administration official confirmed to Fox News that a total of 261 illegal aliens were deported to El Salvador yesterday – 137 were via the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, 101 were Venezuelans removed via Title 8, 21 were Salvadoran MS-13 gang members and two were MS-13 ringleaders and "special cases" for El Salvador, according to the official.

The rap sheets for those removed included kidnapping, sexual abuse of a child, aggravated assault, prostitution, robbery and aggravated assault of a police officer. 

A Trump administration official also confirmed to Fox News that the planes carrying the migrants were already outside of U.S. airspace when a federal judge ordered the planes to return. 

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered an immediate stop to Trump's efforts to deport the alleged gang members so he could have more time to consider if Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act was illegal.

"We did not defy a court order. The order came too late, and illegals were already in international airspace," the official said, as first reported by Axios.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the official's sentiment, telling Fox News that the order "had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist [Tren de Aragua] aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory." 

"The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict," Leavitt said. "A 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."

In an X post, Bukele said the migrants arrived in El Salvador and were transferred to a "terrorism confinement center," where they will stay for at least a year.

The intense video showed heavily-armed Salvadorean authorities surrounding the alleged gang members, forcing their heads down and transporting them into facilities one by one.

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The video also depicted the suspects getting their hair shaven and walking with their hands behind their necks as they were rounded up into their prison cells. 

"Over time, these actions, combined with the production already being generated by more than 40,000 inmates engaged in various workshops and labor under the Zero Idleness program, will help make our prison system self-sustainable," Bukele wrote. "As of today, it costs $200 million per year."

He also said that the apprehension of the MS-13 members "will help us finalize intelligence gathering and go after the last remnants of MS-13, including its former and new members, money, weapons, drugs, hideouts, collaborators, and sponsors."

"As always, we continue advancing in the fight against organized crime," he added. "But this time, we are also helping our allies, making our prison system self-sustainable, and obtaining vital intelligence to make our country an even safer place. All in a single action."

"May God bless El Salvador, and may God bless the United States."

Bukele's post was also warmly received by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who thanked the Salvadorean leader for his "assistance and friendship."

"President @nayibbukele is not only the strongest security leader in our region, he’s also a great friend of the U.S.," Rubio said in an X post. "Thank you!"

Fox News Digital's Brooke Curto and Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report.