Despite repeated claims to federal courts that the United States has no authority over Venezuelan migrants deported from U.S. soil and currently detained in El Salvador, Trump administration officials were actively negotiating a prisoner swap involving those same detainees, a report by The New York Times has revealed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions of United States Richard Grenell led parallel efforts to arrange a deal with Venezuela's authoritarian government, according to four people familiar with the talks. One proposal would have seen the exchange of roughly 250 Venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador, deported there at U.S. request, for the release of 11 U.S. citizens and dozens of Venezuelan political prisoners held in Venezuela. The other offered to extend Chevron's license to operate in Venezuela.
