According to a new report, Donald Trump’s efforts to increase the punishment imposed on migrants who illegally cross the US border or otherwise violate immigration law are directly undermining his administration’s efforts to weaken MS-13.
The violent criminal gang has been a threat in parts of the United States, and it has also been central to GOP efforts to instill fear in migrant communities as a whole.
The administration recently used MS-13 as an example to justify the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, despite the lack of evidence linking him to the gang.
Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison before being returned to the United States, where he is currently facing criminal prosecution.
According to a New York Times report, the US policy of deporting migrants like Abrego Garcia to CECOT, which wowed right-wing supporters of Trump’s mass deportation efforts as the White House attempted to project tough consequences for illegal immigration, is actually aiding the gang’s efforts to evade justice.
The Times, citing interviews with 30 people familiar with the multi-agency efforts to prosecute MS-13 as well as U.S.-El Salvador relations, reported that the Trump administration’s return of key MS-13 leaders to El Salvador was impeding efforts to combat the gang.
According to the Times, US prosecutors are building a case alleging a “corrupt pact between the Salvadoran government and some high-ranking MS-13 leaders.” According to the Times, the gang members agreed to reduce violence and support Bukele in exchange for money and prison perks.
As a result, the outlet reported that two major ongoing cases against some of MS-13’s top leaders could be jeopardised, and other defendants may be less likely to cooperate or testify in court, according to their sources.
The Trump administration began deporting migrants with criminal convictions to the CECOT facility earlier this year.
Officials have insisted that only violent criminals are sent there, but a 60 Minutes investigation discovered that the vast majority of the deportees have no such convictions or charges on file.
Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, who ICE officials described as playing a “significant leadership rol[e] in the organisation” upon his arrest in 2024, was one of the men deported to the CECOT prison facility earlier this year. Lopez Larios was deported in March.
People involved in the MS-13 investigation who spoke with the Times described Lopez-Larios’ and others’ deportations as a direct impediment to determining the extent of cooperation between the gang and El Salvadorian authorities.
According to the Times, investigators are deeply suspicious of President Nayib Bukele’s government and are aware of numerous instances in which Salvadoran officials facilitated meetings between MS-13 members and imprisoned leaders at CECOT and other facilities, as well as providing other assistance to the gang.
One, former DHS special agent Christopher Musto, told the Times he thought Bukele was “dirty”; Musto is now running for local office in New Jersey.
“He was corrupt. And now he’s sitting next to the president in the Oval Office, with direct access to the leader of the free world,” Musto claimed of Bukele.
A White House spokesperson told The Independent, “Any suggestion that President Trump isn’t successfully eradicating terrorist criminal gangs from the United States is just plain stupid.”
“Only The New York Times would be upset that President Trump is deporting dangerous, illegal terrorists and criminals from the United States.”
“President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people to expel these monsters from our country, and our communities are safer as a result,” Abigail Jackson wrote. “Any suggestion that President Trump is not successfully eradicating terrorist criminal gangs in the United States is simply ridiculous.
We appreciate President Bukele’s collaboration as well as CECOT, which is one of the world’s most secure facilities. There’s no better place for these sick, illegal criminals.
The Independent has reached out for additional information.
John Durham, the special prosecutor appointed by the Trump administration to punish those linked to the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, led the DOJ’s efforts to dismantle MS-13 during the Biden administration.
In February 2023, Durham insisted that bringing MS-13 leaders to the United States for prosecution was the only way to dismantle the organization’s command structure.
His new bosses took an opposite approach.
Instead, the Trump administration has cozied up to Bukele and facilitated the return of MS-13 leaders to El Salvador as part of efforts to improve relations with the Central American country’s government.
Much of Bukele’s admiration for Trump stems from the Biden administration’s efforts to link his rise to political power to gang member assistance, which Bukele has denied.
One source told the Times that the DOJ was watching criminal cases against MS-13 leaders “literally pulled out from under them” in the first six months of 2025, as charges were dropped and deportation orders issued.
Vladimir Arévalo Chávez, an infamous commander of the group accused by US officials of ordering killings in multiple countries, remains in US custody.
The government, like his alleged MS-13 bosses, is attempting to drop the charges against him and order his deportation. His attorneys say the effort is the first step towards having him “silenced by the Bukele administration.”
According to the Times, one of the alleged ties between the Bukele government and MS-13 is an attempt to direct USAID funding to the group. Carlos Marroquín Chica, a close aide to Bukele, led the scam and is still an ally of the president according to his Twitter profile.
The Biden administration’s sanctions against Marroquín Chica expired last year. Much of USAID’s funding for El Salvador was frozen earlier in 2025 as part of the Trump administration’s larger dismantling of the US foreign aid management process.
