August 21, 2025 - Washington, D.C. — This week, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to the Department of Justice, Department of State, and Department of Homeland Security regarding reports that President Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele entered into a secret, backdoor deal that resulted in America’s release of dangerous MS-13 leaders back to El Salvador. If true, President Trump is risking the safety of Americans by helping the major organized crime gang grow, creating an opportunity for them to come back stronger into the United States, and wasting our law enforcement’s efforts to stop them for good.
“Reports that President Trump is trading dangerous MS-13 gang leaders for the use of Salvadoran prisons raise serious national security red flags for the United States. Today, I am asking the Trump Administration to come clean about whether there was a deal struck between President Trump and President Bukele, and for details surrounding its decision to drop charges for dangerous criminals. The American people deserve to know if their safety is at risk,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
“Reports suggest that President Trump and Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, entered into a covert agreement that resulted in the U.S. government dropping charges against and deporting key MS-13 leaders who were apprehended by the United States. In return for President Trump’s promise to drop charges against these dangerous individuals, President Bukele allegedly agreed to accept and confine Venezuelans deported from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act to Salvadoran prisons, particularly the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT),” wrote Ranking Member Garcia. “If true, this surreptitious deal struck by the Trump Administration has profound implications for the integrity of the United States justice system and national security. The Committee demands to understand whether U.S. officials facilitated the repatriation of MS-13 leaders to prevent them from cooperating with American prosecutors.”
In 2019, the Department of Justice launched a years-long effort known as Task Force Vulcan to dismantle the leadership of MS-13. As a result of Task Force Vulcan, in 2020, the Department of Justice indicted 14 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. Despite knowledge of the information López Larios possessed about this deal, the Department of Justice dismissed all charges against López Larios on March 11, 2025. Four days later, López Larios was repatriated to El Salvador.
“The actions of the Trump Administration appear specifically designed to undercut the work of Task Force Vulcan by returning key witnesses with knowledge of Bukele’s deal with MS-13 to El Salvador,” concluded Ranking Member Garcia. “Such a decision not only undercuts ongoing federal investigations but also threatens U.S. national security. MS-13 maintains a direct operational presence in dozens of American cities and uses smuggling corridors, trafficking networks, and opaque financial systems to conduct criminal activity across borders.”
Click here to read the letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Source: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform-Democrats
