El Salvador’s government sent more than 250 Venezuelans it was holding in a maximum-security prison to Caracas in exchange for 10 Americans detained by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, U.S. and Salvadoran officials said.

The Venezuelans being repatriated had originally been deported by the US under the Trump administration to El Salvador earlier this year, under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which gives a US president power to detain and deport natives or citizens of "enemy" nations without usual processes.