San Salvador, El Salvador — The number of people deported to El Salvador from the United States has nearly doubled in the first months of 2026, according to official figures, and it comes as Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has positioned himself as an ally ready to help the Trump administration speed up deportations, a central priority.
The United States deported 5,033 Salvadorans home in the first three months of 2026 compared to 2,547 deportees in the same period in 2025, according to Salvadoran immigration authority figures obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.
That represents an increase of nearly 98% at the same time that the Trump administration ramped up deportation flights around the world. Globally, deportation flights from the United States jumped about 61% between 2024 and 2025, according to data compiled by the Association for Migrants’ Agenda El Salvador, or AAMES, and other organizations.
The United States has stopped regularly publishing deportation data, so experts instead rely on other information from countries like El Salvador, deportation flights and other numbers.
The sharp increase in deportations “underscores the real hardening of the US immigration system toward the region,” said Cesar Ríos of AAMES.
The jump comes as Bukele, a tough-on-crime politician, seeks an alliance with US President Donald Trump, and the US government has mobilized allies across Latin America to help him implement his agenda. While Mexico and other Central American countries have quietly accepted third-country deportees, Bukele has boldly embraced Trump’s efforts in Latin America.
In March 2025, Bukele appeared in particular It accepted 238 Venezuelan deportees They were accused of being members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and locked up in a A huge prison was built for the accused gang members In continuous Bukele Attack on El Salvador’s gangs. The incident sparked widespread accusations of human rights violations.
The geopolitical storm came after the Trump government concluded an agreement with Bukele to accept what they described as the transfer and imprisonment of foreign criminals to El Salvador. Under the agreement, El Salvador will receive $6 million from the United States
In April, the Trump administration mistakenly deported Maryland resident and Salvadoran citizen Kelmar Abrego García who has protected status in the United States, which became another legal and political flashpoint. Bukele originally refused to bring back Abrego Garcia and He denied the accusations Beatings and torture – which have been widely documented by human rights groups in Salvadoran prisons.
It was later He returned to the United States in June To face charges of helping bring immigrants to the United States illegally, something his lawyers described as “baseless.” Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss his case as the US Department of Homeland Security announced that it hopes to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia.
More recently, Bukele joined A coalition of other right-leaning Trump allies In a group of countries that Trump called the “Shield of the Americas,” which aims to suppress criminal groups in Latin America, although the two countries most important to the effort — Mexico and Colombia — have declined to attend.
Meanwhile, many immigrants in the United States are turning their attention to the arguments of the US Supreme Court, as Trump seeks Stop shielding Hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti and Syria, a decision that many of the more than 200,000 Salvadoran migrants with temporary protection fear will ultimately affect them.
Bukele has helped the United States with its immigration agenda even before Trump came to office.
In 2023, the El Salvadoran government began to slap back $1,130 fee for travelers From dozens of countries connecting through the country’s main airport, amid pressure from the Biden administration to help control the number of migrants heading towards the southern border of the United States. Meanwhile, immigration from El Salvador, fueled by gang violence and poverty, has declined in the wake of Bukele’s controversial war on the gangs.
Analysts said Bukele’s government used declines in migration rates as a bargaining chip to offset human rights criticism from the United States.
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Megan Janetsky reported from Mexico City.