Well, hey, looks like those illegals sent to El Salvador had some value after all, and get to be repatriated
El Salvador releases hundreds of US deportees from notorious prison in US-Venezuela swap
The Trump administration completed a large-scale prisoner swap with Venezuela on Friday, sending about 250 Venezuelans who had been deported and imprisoned in El Salvador back to their home country in exchange for 10 US nationals, officials said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media the Americans, the last known to be detained in Venezuela, were now “on their way to freedom.”
“Until today, more Americans were wrongfully held in Venezuela than any other country in the world,” Rubio said in a statement. “Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland.”
Among the Americans released were Jorge Marcelo Vargas, Lucas Hunter and Wilbert Joseph Castaneda, a US official confirmed.
The sister of Hunter, 37, previously told CNN he had vacationed in the region in late 2024 to kite surf. The nonprofit Global Reach said he was “kidnapped by Venezuelan border guards” from inside Colombia in January.
The planes with the Venezuelans, reportedly TDA gang members, were landing Friday night.
Venezuelan officials on Friday afternoon announced the arrival of a separate flight from Texas delivering its citizens, including several children who had been separated from their families and kept in US care. “On this flight, there can be good news for Venezuelans,” interior minister Diosdado Cabello said, adding, “more movement” and additional arrivals are expected today.
Time for them to all go home. If any want to become Americans they can do it through the normal naturalization process.
The families of Americans wrongfully detained in Venezuela met virtually with senior national security official Seb Gorka earlier this year, participants and a White House official told CNN.
Following that meeting, an American Air Force veteran was released from imprisonment in Venezuela in May, CNN reported. Joseph St. Clair was released to US special envoy Richard Grenell, the family statement said. St. Clair had been detained since November and was one of nine Americans declared wrongfully detained in Venezuela.
What did Biden do to get our citizens back? Hate Trump if you want, he puts Americans first.
Our distinguished host concluded:
Let’s hope it works out that way, because Nicolas Maduro is just as likely to ship those 250 Tren de Artichoke gang members back to the US. If he does, at least they’ll have previous deportation action against them, and re-entry would be a felony, and they could be locked up as soon as they get caught again.
… No.
Fixed it for you.
We have enough foreigners. We don’t need any more. Many of the ones we have need to go home.
Early foreigners killed some 50-100 million Native Americans. We are descendants of those foreigners. So maybe, lighten up a bit.
In fact, we do need foreigners, regardless of your bigotry.
Why were these non-Venezuelans in Venezuela in the first place? Doesn’t Venezuela have the right to detain illegals they find there? The American citizen illegals were arrested by Venezuelan ICE. Who vacations in Venezuela (Venezuela has the highest Travel Advisory level – Level 4: Do Not Travel).
Joseph St. Clair, 33, released in May from Venezuela, was denied a visit to the White House for having pending drug and DWI charges. St. Clair served in Afghanistan and was there to get treatment for his PTSD and for work. Uh huh, of course.
Mr teach typed that the 250 or so Venezuelans were “reportedly TDA gang members”. “Reported” by the corrupt Salvadoran Prez Bukele.
A senior US administration official said dozens of Venezuelan political prisoners were released, 10 of which were Americans.
Mr teach typed:
President Biden brought home some 70 Americans detained outside the U.S.
Here are the ‘Americans’ Mr trump rescued: WJ Castaneda, Jorge Marcelo Vargas, Lucas Hunter, Jonathan Pagan Gonzalez, Ronald Oribio Quintana, Erick Oribio Quintana, Fabian Buglione Reyes, Renzo Humanchumo Castillo, Juan Jose Faria Bricen and Danud Hanid Ortiz,