10 Americans are freed from Venezuela in a prisoner swap for migrants in El Salvador

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Venezuela has freed 10 Americans in exchange for Venezuelans whom the United States had sent to a prison in El Salvador, the U.S. and Salvadoran governments said Friday.

In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "the United States welcomes home ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela."

"We also welcome the release of Venezuelan political prisoners and detainees that were also released from Venezuelan prisons," the statement continued.

Earlier, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele confirmed the exchange in a message on X. He said his government handed over Venezuelans accused of being part of the Tren de Aragua gang in exchange for "a considerable number of Venezuelan political prisoners" as well as U.S. citizens. He said the swap was the result of "months of negotiations with a tyrannical regime," and added that U.S. officials had helped to arrange the deal.

Rubio wrote on social media, "ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela are on their way to freedom."

A State Department official later told NPR that those freed included citizens and permanent residents of the U.S., most of whom were classified by the U.S. as wrongfully detained. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

In March, the Trump administration sent more than 230 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, whose government was paid to house them in a maximum security prison, known as CECOT.

The United States accused many of the migrants sent to El Salvador of being members of Tren de Aragua and deported them under the Alien Enemies Act, which had not been invoked since World War II.

Lawyers for the Venezuelan deportees have long argued that their removal from the United States to El Salvador was illegal. Dozens of those who were sent to El Salvador were in the middle of asylum cases, and had been held in U.S. detention centers for months.

On Friday, Bukele published a video of men in handcuffs he said were being handed over to Venezuela, as they boarded a plane taking them to Venezuela.

This is a developing story that will be updated.