Parents of Venezuelan immigrants deported from the United States to El Salvador's infamous CECOT prison are saying that President Donald Trump is using their children as "bargaining chips," according to a new report from The New York Times.
The backlash comes at a time when U.S. and Salvadoran officials work to negotiate a prisoner swap involving "several Americans and dozens of political prisoners held in Venezuela in exchange for sending home about 250 Venezuelan migrants the United States had deported to El Salvador," the Times reported.
“At first, when we heard that our sons were being used as bargaining chips, this offended us a lot,” Jetzy Arteaga, whose son has been held in CECOT since he was deported in March, told the outlet. “Our sons are not bargaining chips. But now we realize there is no other option.”
The Trump administration's deportation efforts are a central part of the president's domestic policy agenda. It struck a deal with El Salvador to send some immigrants to the country's infamous CECOT prison for $6 million. The Supreme Court has also said the administration can send detained immigrants to third countries with which they have no ties, such as South Sudan.
Part of the issue that the parents of detained CECOT are running into is that the Trump administration appears to be tripping over itself while negotiating with their Venezuelan and Salvadoran counterparts.
“The sense that we parents had was that you had various people talking, but they weren’t working together — one negotiator would say one thing, and another would say something else,” Petra Castañeda, whose son was arrested last year in Venezuela, told the Times. “You would think they would be duly coordinated.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the outlet that there is "no fraction or division" among Trump administration negotiators.