An open letter to the President & U.S. Congress; State Governors & Legislatures

Deported by Trump. Traded by Bukele. Who Got Paid and Who Got Played?

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I write today not with speculation, but with concern grounded in observable fact. The United States government—under your leadership—deported hundreds of Venezuelans in early 2025. These deportations: • Violated a federal judge’s order • Included many individuals with no criminal record or charges • Were carried out without hearings or due process • Resulted in a $6 million taxpayer-funded deal with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to detain these individuals at the CECOT mega-prison Now, President Bukele is proposing a prisoner swap—offering to trade those same deported Venezuelans for political prisoners held in Venezuela. Let’s be clear: U.S. taxpayer dollars funded a detention system now being used for foreign political gain. This raises deeply troubling questions: • Did the administration know this was the plan all along? • Was this incompetence—or complicity? • Did anyone personally benefit from a deal that now looks suspiciously like state-enabled human trafficking? We all see it—and frankly, so do you. Bukele played you. And the whole world is watching him dance with your credibility while you trip over the Constitution you were supposed to defend. You can try to talk tough, but let’s be honest: You’ve surrounded yourself with people who don’t know the law, don’t respect the law, and clearly didn’t think this through. And it shows. In the court of history, the verdict is already written: You were the man who sold people to look powerful, and ended up powerless. You gained nothing. And you lost what little soul you had left. Now you—and Congress—have a choice. Do nothing, and be remembered as the cowards who watched people get traded like cattle on your watch. Or act like leaders for once. Investigate. Undo the damage. Bring these human beings home before they’re used as pawns again.

▶ Created on April 21 by Once upon a Republican

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