SAN SALVADOR — The United States deported 5,033 Salvadorans to El Salvador in the first three months of 2026, compared with 2,547 deportees in the same period of 2025, according to El Salvador migration authority figures. The increase represents nearly a 98% rise in Salvadoran deportations from the U.S.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has positioned himself as an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and offered to help accelerate deportations. The Trump administration has boosted deportation flights to countries around the world, and deportation flights from the U.S. increased by about 61% globally between 2024 and 2025, according to data compiled by the Asociación Agenda Migrante El Salvador. The U.S. government has stopped regularly releasing deportation data.

César Ríos, an official with AAMES, said, "The sharp increase in deportations confirms a real hardening of the U.S. immigration system toward the region."

In March 2025, Bukele accepted 238 Venezuelan deportees accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang and detained them in a mega-prison for suspected gang members. The facility was built to house suspected gang members as part of his ongoing offensive against gangs in El Salvador. Human rights groups have documented allegations of beating and torture in Salvadoran prisons.

Under a U.S.-El Salvador agreement, El Salvador would receive $6 million in exchange for transferring and imprisoning foreign criminals. In April 2026, the Trump administration mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego García, a Maryland resident and Salvadoran citizen with protected status in the U.S. Bukele initially refused to return Abrego García and denied that he had been beaten or tortured in Salvadoran prisons.

Bukele has also joined a coalition of right-leaning Trump allies in a group of countries called the Shield of the Americas. Trump is seeking to end protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti and Syria. More than 200,000 Salvadoran migrants in the U.S. hold temporary protections.

In 2023, the government of El Salvador began charging a $1,130 fee on travelers from dozens of countries connecting through the nation's main airport. The fee was imposed under pressure from the Biden administration to help control the number of migrants moving toward the U.S. southern border. Migration from El Salvador decreased after Bukele's anti-gang offensive.