Report: Rubio Traded MS-13 Informants for El Salvador Prison Access

Report: Rubio Traded MS-13 Informants for El Salvador Prison Access
Above: Marco Rubio (L) meets with Nayib Bukele in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Feb. 3, 2025. Image copyright: El Salvador Presidency/Handout/Anadolu/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-Trump narrative

The deal delivered real results, allowing the Trump administration to successfully remove hardened gang members and violent criminals from American streets, including MS-13 leaders who terrorized communities and Venezuelan gang members who threatened public safety. This diplomatic breakthrough allows the U.S. to send the most despicable criminals far from America's borders, while El Salvador provides secure detention facilities, proving that the Trump administration delivers on its promise to protect American families from foreign criminal gangs.

Anti-Trump narrative

The Trump administration's deal with El Salvador is a dangerous betrayal of American law enforcement and national security. Marco Rubio promised to hand over protected U.S. informants to a foreign dictator, undermining years of critical MS-13 investigations and destroying the credibility of federal prosecutors who rely on informant cooperation. This reckless diplomacy sacrifices the safety of those who risked their lives to help American authorities, all to enable Trump's mass deportation agenda and protect Bukele's authoritarian image.

Metaculus Prediction



The Controversies




© 2025 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.17.0

© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.17.0