Nayib Bukele

President of El Salvador - Attended summit; seen as model for military anti-gang approach

The United States has not built a new military coalition in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War. On March 7, President Trump gathered leaders from 12 Latin American nations at his Doral resort in Miami to launch the 'Shield of the Americas,' a framework for coordinated military and intelligence operations against drug cartels, and announced the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition, a pledge from 17 countries to use lethal military force against transnational criminal organizations.

Updated Yesterday

President of El Salvador - Hosting foreign nationals at CECOT under agreement with U.S.

The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked only four times in American history—during the War of 1812, World War I, World War II, and now. In March 2025, President Trump became the first president to use the 1798 wartime statute outside of a declared war, targeting alleged members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang and sending 137 men to El Salvador's maximum-security CECOT prison within 24 hours. On February 12, 2026, a federal judge ordered the government to facilitate their return to the United States, ruling they were denied the right to challenge their removal.

Updated Feb 12