"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," Garcia wrote. "The Committee demands to understand whether U.S. officials facilitated the repatriation of MS-13 leaders to prevent them from cooperating with American prosecutors."
The gang leaders were charged in a pair of cases playing out in federal court on Long Island that U.S. officials have described as "the highest-reaching and most sweeping indictments targeting MS-13 and its command and control structure in U.S. history."
The indictments alleged that many of the accused had been directly involved in negotiating a truce with unnamed members of Bukele's government to tamp down public gang killings in El Salvador to help the president's party win a supermajority in 2021 legislative elections.
In exchange, according to one of the indictments, Salvadoran officials offered the gang leaders cash and other perks, including improved prison conditions, control of territory and a commitment that El Salvador would deny U.S. requests to extradite them.
"In effect," Garcia wrote in his letter, "the Salvadoran government traded criminal impunity for political gain."…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/08/18/bukele-ms13-trump-deal-robert-garcia/
