White House says law enforcement confirmed identities of Tren de Aragua members sent to El Salvadoran prison

In the wake of the Trump administration deporting hundreds of illegal immigrant gang members to El Salvador, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that immigration authorities were sure about the identities of all the 261 foreign nationals, 238 of which are Venezuelan gang members, that were sent on a plane to El Salvador to be locked up in prison. This comes as a judge ordered that the Trump administration not deport the foreign nationals, however, the White House has said that the planes were already in the air by the time the order was given. 

When asked about the subject of the judge making the order, Leavitt said, "All of the planes that were subject to the written order—the judge's written order—took off before the order was entered in the courtroom on Saturday, and the administration will, of course, be happily answering all of those questions that the judge poses in court later today."

Leavitt added during the briefing that the Trump administration is confident that they will win the case in court.

It was also reported by White House correspondent Shelby Talcott that the Trump administration is paying $6 million to have El Salvador keep the suspected gang members.

When questioned if all the people on the plane were part of gangs such as Tren de Aragua or MS-13, Leavitt said, "I can assure the American people that Customs and Border Patrol and ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are sure about the identities of the individuals who were on these planes and the threat that they pose to our homeland."

"They take this incredibly seriously. They are putting their lives on the line to deport these designated terrorists from our country, and they should be trusted to do that. And that's exactly what the American people elected this President to do," she added.

Leavitt emphasized that the gang members of Tren de Aragua have been designated as a "foreign terrorist organization," and could then be deported under the Alien Enemies Act, which historically was used during wars.

When pressed on the topic by reporters, Leavitt said that the administration has released an official breakdown of all those that were flown to El Salvador.

"We've already provided the breakdown in the effort of transparency about the 261 illegal aliens who were deported. 137 of those were deported under the Alien Enemies Act, 101 of those were Venezuelans removed via Title Eight, which, as you know, are just regular immigration proceedings. And 23 of them were MS-13 Salvadoran gang members. There were also two MS-13 ring leaders as part of that group of 23 who President Bukele particularly expressed his gratitude for their return."

On Sunday, Fox News reporter Bill Melugin wrote on X, relaying information from a White House official, "There were 261 illegal aliens deported to El Salvador yesterday. 137 via the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 101 were Venezuelans removed via Title 8 (regular immigration proceedings) 21 were Salvadoran MS-13 gang members 2 were 'special cases' for El Salvador (Bukele posted that the U.S. returned two MS-13 ringleaders to El Salvador)."