Deportations from the United States to El Salvador have surged dramatically in early 2026, with official data showing removals have nearly doubled compared to the previous year, as the Central American nation’s leader has emerged as a willing partner in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement priorities.
According to migration authority statistics obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, 5,033 Salvadorans were removed to their homeland during the first quarter of 2026, a stark jump from the 2,547 individuals deported in the corresponding timeframe of 2025.
This represents an almost 98% spike coinciding with the Trump administration’s expansion of removal flights worldwide. International deportation operations from the United States increased by approximately 61% from 2024 to 2025, based on information gathered by the Asociación Agenda Migrante El Salvador, known as AAMES, along with other advocacy groups.
Since the United States has ceased routine publication of deportation statistics, researchers are now depending on alternative data sources from receiving nations such as El Salvador, flight tracking information, and other metrics.
“This confirms a real hardening of the U.S. immigration system toward the region,” stated César Ríos of AAMES regarding the dramatic rise in removals.
The escalation occurs as the tough-on-crime leader has worked to position himself alongside U.S. President Donald Trump, while the American government has secured partnerships throughout Latin America to advance its immigration agenda. Although Mexico and fellow Central American countries have quietly received deportees from third nations, the Salvadoran president has openly championed Trump’s regional initiatives.
Most prominently in March 2025, the leader accepted 238 Venezuelan deportees allegedly linked to the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua, confining them in a massive detention facility constructed for suspected gang affiliates as part of his comprehensive anti-gang campaign. This action sparked extensive human rights violation allegations.
The international controversy emerged following an arrangement between Trump’s administration and the Salvadoran government to accept what officials characterized as the transfer and detention of foreign criminals to El Salvador. The agreement provided El Salvador with $6 million from the United States.
In April, the Trump administration erroneously deported Maryland resident and Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego García, who held protected status in the United States, creating another legal and political controversy. The Salvadoran leader initially declined to return Abrego García and rejected accusations of physical abuse and torture — practices that human rights organizations have extensively documented in Salvadoran detention facilities.
Abrego García was subsequently returned to the United States in June to confront charges alleging he facilitated illegal immigration, accusations his legal team describes as “baseless.” He has entered a not guilty plea and requested case dismissal while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced intentions to deport him to Liberia.
More recently, the Salvadoran president joined other conservative Trump supporters in an alliance Trump named the Shield of the Americas, ostensibly designed to combat criminal organizations across Latin America, despite the absence of two crucial nations in such efforts — Mexico and Colombia — who declined participation.
Simultaneously, numerous migrants in the United States are monitoring U.S. Supreme Court proceedings as Trump attempts to eliminate protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti and Syria, a development concerning the more than 200,000 Salvadoran migrants with temporary protected status who fear similar consequences.
The Salvadoran leader has assisted U.S. immigration objectives even prior to Trump taking office.
In 2023, El Salvador’s administration implemented a $1,130 charge on travelers from dozens of nations transiting through the country’s primary airport, responding to Biden administration pressure to help limit migrant movement toward the United States’ southern border. Concurrently, emigration from El Salvador, driven by gang violence and economic hardship, decreased following the controversial anti-gang offensive.
Policy experts noted that the government leveraged reduced migration numbers as negotiating leverage to counter U.S. human rights criticisms.
