https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/Ongoing. After 62 killings in a single day in March 2022, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly approved a state of exception that suspended some constitutional rights and has been extended every month since. The government reports more than 92,000 arrests and record low homicide figures, while rights groups report hundreds of deaths in custody. The crackdown drew US attention in 2025 when the Trump administration sent deportees to the CECOT mega prison.enhttps://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e39el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-07a5f5fbedWed, 26 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000The assembly approved a 54th extension running from 29 August to 27 September 2026, with 57 votes in favour, Diario El Mundo reported. The Ministry of Security reported 92,959 captures. Socorro Juridico Humanitario counted 564 deaths of detainees, and a governing party lawmaker cited 35 homicides so far in 2026.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e37el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-5a1ff7d6e8Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000Amnesty International said more than 90,000 people had been detained and at least 470 had died in custody, and that mass arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearance could amount to crimes against humanity. The government presents the measure as a successful security policy, Amnesty noted.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e38el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-9aef6bac50Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000Trump received Bukele in the Oval Office in a closed meeting, AFP and La Prensa Grafica reported, days after Bukele was proclaimed his party's presidential candidate for the February 2027 election, according to EFE. La Prensa Grafica said local media citing official information reported that security and migration were discussed.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e36el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-b4767dd2e6Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000Federal prosecutors filed notice that they would appeal the dismissal of the smuggling case to the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, ABC News and the Tennessee Lookout reported. Abrego Garcia also faces a separate court fight in Maryland over the government's efforts to deport him to a third country, the Tennessee Lookout reported.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e35el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-18823cd397Wed, 27 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000The assembly voted 57 to 1 for a 51st 30 day extension, in force from 31 May to 29 June 2026, keeping suspended the right to defence, the limit on administrative detention and privacy of communications, El Diario de Hoy and the Tico Times reported. Both cited official figures of more than 92,300 arrests, and the Tico Times said the government had acknowledged at least 8,000 detainees as innocent.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e34el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-64b44b68e8Fri, 22 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Nashville dismissed the human smuggling charges against Abrego Garcia for vindictive or selective prosecution, the Associated Press reported. Administration officials have said he cannot stay in the US and have proposed deporting him to a third country.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e33el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-7911667586Tue, 12 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000The US deported 5,033 Salvadorans to El Salvador from January to March 2026, up from 2,547 a year earlier, according to Salvadoran migration figures the Associated Press obtained on 12 May. AP said Bukele had joined a Trump backed regional coalition called the Shield of the Americas.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e32el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-8a1f015bffThu, 16 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000Cristosal's Noah Bullock told the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that the group had documented 513 deaths in custody, including 181 it linked to physical violence. He said Cristosal lawyer Ruth Lopez had been held for nearly a year without trial.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e31el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-4de39c61d3Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000Socorro Juridico Humanitario said at least 500 people had died in state custody since March 2022, according to the Tico Times. Officials have described most deaths as natural causes linked to prior illness, and the government said more than 91,300 people had been detained and about 8,000 freed.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e30el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-c0c6addc2eWed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000InSight Crime reported 82 homicides in El Salvador in 2025, a rate of 1.3 per 100,000 and a 32.2 percent fall from 2024. It said the official method has since 2019 omitted killings by police of alleged gang members, killings in prisons and bodies in unmarked graves, a change it first reported in July 2019, and that a lack of transparency made the data hard to verify.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e29el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-21fc0763e6Tue, 17 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0000A federal judge in Maryland ruled that ICE could not re-detain Abrego Garcia, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e28el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-6f32838678Thu, 11 Dec 2025 12:00:00 +0000A federal judge in Maryland ordered ICE to release Abrego Garcia immediately, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e27el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-50d09ea180Wed, 12 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000Human Rights Watch and Cristosal said they interviewed 40 of the Venezuelans held at CECOT and alleged torture and enforced disappearance. They said about half had no criminal history and that the US reportedly paid El Salvador at least 4.7 million dollars. Neither government responded to their requests.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e26el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-3fe80a1dceWed, 01 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +0000The Association of Journalists of El Salvador announced it was moving its legal registration to another country in response to the foreign agents law, the Associated Press and Diario El Mundo reported. It said 43 journalists left El Salvador between March and June 2025. Bukele has described critical NGOs as sympathetic to the gangs, according to AP.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e25el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-dd66cc98f7Mon, 25 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0000Abrego Garcia left jail in Tennessee on 22 August and ICE notified him it intended to deport him to Uganda. He was taken into ICE custody when he reported to a Baltimore office on 25 August, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e24el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-638c136874Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000Lawmakers voted 57 to 3 to amend the constitution to allow indefinite presidential re-election, extend terms to six years, end runoffs and move the end of Bukele's term from 2029 to 1 June 2027, the Associated Press reported.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e23el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-bce4381a3dFri, 18 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000El Salvador sent 252 Venezuelans held in CECOT to Venezuela in exchange for 10 Americans and people described as political prisoners released by Venezuela, CBS News reported. Rubio said every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela was now free.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e22el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-6868a416d3Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000Cristosal said it had suspended operations in El Salvador and moved about 20 staff out of the country, Reuters and the Los Angeles Times reported. The Association of Journalists of El Salvador said at least 40 journalists had left since May. El Faro pulled its reporters out after warnings of arrest, the Los Angeles Times reported.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e21el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-a52d22c50dFri, 06 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States and charged with human smuggling based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, the Associated Press reported. He pleaded not guilty.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e20el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-55b030853fTue, 20 May 2025 12:00:00 +0000The Legislative Assembly approved a law requiring people and groups funded from abroad to register as foreign agents and pay a 30 percent tax on foreign income, with fines of 1,000 to 150,000 dollars, CPJ reported. The government said the law promotes transparency and protects sovereignty. CPJ called for its repeal.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e19el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-cc3be62446Sun, 18 May 2025 12:00:00 +0000Police arrested Ruth Lopez, head of Cristosal's anti-corruption and justice program, at her home, NPR reported, and the attorney general's office accused her of embezzling state funds in connection with past work for a former electoral tribunal magistrate. Cristosal and her family denied the charge and called it politically motivated. Prosecutors later changed the charge to illicit enrichment, and she was still in pretrial detention without trial in September 2026, according to Human Rights Watch and El Diario de Hoy.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e18el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-cb56ebd3a1Mon, 14 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000Meeting President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Bukele said he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States, McClatchy reported. Trump said he had the best relationship with Bukele.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e17el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-db30909d9fThu, 10 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000The Supreme Court left in place a district court order requiring the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador, noting the government had acknowledged his removal was an administrative error and therefore illegal. It asked the lower court to clarify the word effectuate.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e16el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-eaefa01d52Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000In Trump v. J.G.G., the Supreme Court vacated the district court's March orders, holding that detainees must challenge Alien Enemies Act removals through habeas petitions in the district where they are held. It said detainees must receive notice in time to seek that relief before removal. Four justices dissented in whole or part.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e15el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-2e8a5fe783Sun, 16 Mar 2025 12:00:00 +0000Over the weekend of 15 and 16 March 2025 the US sent about 250 people it said were Tren de Aragua members to El Salvador after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, NPR reported. Bukele said 238 Tren de Aragua members and 23 MS-13 members had arrived and would be held in CECOT for one year, after Judge James Boasberg had ordered the deportations blocked. The Associated Press, citing a memo it obtained, reported the US would pay 6 million dollars for about 300 prisoners.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e14el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-d5150315baSat, 15 Mar 2025 12:00:00 +0000Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man living in Maryland who had been detained by ICE on 12 March, was deported to El Salvador and held in prison there, the Associated Press reported. A 2019 immigration court order had barred his removal to El Salvador.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e13el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-cdc03ed744Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000After meeting Bukele, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said El Salvador would hold deportees of any nationality with criminal records and had offered to house US citizens serving prison terms, the Miami Herald reported. Bukele said the fee would be low for the US but significant for El Salvador.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e12el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-b0297c8a92Thu, 02 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0000The prosecutor's office reported 114 homicides in 2024, and Bukele cited a rate of 1.9 per 100,000, the Associated Press reported. The 2023 figure was 214, including 38 deaths of alleged gang members. Authorities said more than 83,000 people accused of gang links had been captured, Bukele said 8,000 innocent detainees had been released, and rights groups counted 354 deaths in custody.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e11el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-4b250bfbeaSun, 04 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0000Bukele won the 4 February 2024 election with 84.65 percent of the vote according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal's final count, confirmed two weeks later, AFP reported. Turnout was 52.6 percent. Organization of American States observers said they were concerned about delays in the legislative count.https://howitunfolded.com/incidents/el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown/#e10el-salvador-bukele-gang-crackdown-77da9eed01Mon, 29 May 2023 12:00:00 +0000Cristosal reported that at least 153 people jailed since March 2022 had died in state custody, nearly half violently, the Associated Press and NBC News reported. NBC said the government reported more than 68,000 arrests and more than 5,000 releases and had not given an official count of deaths in custody.