El Salvador says it shares information with the US about people it believes are gang members

El Salvador's Security and Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro on Wednesday said the country shares intelligence with the United States about people it believes are members of gangs that they want deported. 

Villatoro said El Salvador has complete records of the people it believes are tied to gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, which it keeps on file for years. The records include people currently living in other countries like the U.S. 

“We know their background — how many times they were captured for homicide, for drugs, for weapons,” he told CNN. “This is not about random deportations — this is based on the full record.”

Villatoro said the country shares the information with U.S. law enforcement before it talks about deporting the individuals. 

The comment comes after the Trump administration deported over 270 men to El Salvador they believed to be gang members. The number includes one man from Maryland that the administration has admitted was an "administrative error."

Villatoro did not comment on the Maryland man's case, but said that men who are sent to the high-security prison Cecot are people the country also suspects are tied to gangs. 

“We checked all of them. And if we found someone who we are very sure that he is a member of any gang in El Salvador, we capture them and put them in jail,” he said. “It’s very common that some people say, ‘Oh, he’s innocent.’ But the problem is: your background talks for you, right? You can say, ‘I’m not a member’ — OK, but what happened with your criminal record?”

Attorneys for the Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia have denied that their client is connected to a gang, stating that the El Salvadoran government has failed to produce clear evidence linking him to the gang.

“In the absence of transparency or due process for Kilmar, such vague accusations should not carry weight," the lawyers told CNN. “The government of El Salvador has not provided any convictions or substantiated evidence to support its claims, and it is deeply concerning that these unverified allegations are being used to retroactively justify a deportation that violated court orders."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.