3 newly freed Americans are back on US soil after a landmark prisoner exchange with Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.

Gershkovich, Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with dual U.S.-Russia citizenship, arrived on American soil shortly before midnight for a joyful reunion with their families. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also were at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to greet them and dispense hugs all around.

The trade unfolded despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Negotiators in backchannel talks at one point explored an exchange involving Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but after his death in February ultimately stitched together a 24-person deal that required significant concessions from European allies, including the release of a Russian assassin, and secured freedom for a cluster of journalists, suspected spies, political prisoners and others.

Biden trumpeted the exchange, by far the largest in a series of swaps with Russia, as a diplomatic feat while welcoming families of the returning Americans to the White House. But the deal, like others before it, reflected an innate imbalance: The U.S. and allies gave up Russians charged or convicted of serious crimes in exchange for Russia releasing journalists, dissidents and others imprisoned by the country's highly politicized legal system on charges seen by the West as trumped-up.

“Deals like this one come with tough calls,” Biden said. He added, “There’s nothing that matters more to me than protecting Americans at home and abroad.”

Under the deal, Russia released Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was jailed in 2023 and convicted in July of espionage charges that he and the U.S. government vehemently denied. His family said in a statement released by the newspaper that “we can't wait to give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave smile up close." The paper's editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, called it a “joyous day.”

“While we waited for this momentous day, we were determined to be as loud as we could be on Evan’s behalf. We are so grateful for all the voices that were raised when his was silent. We can finally say, in unison, ‘Welcome home, Evan,’” she wrote in a letter posted online.

Also released was Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed since 2018, also on espionage charges he and Washington have denied, and Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military, accusations her family and employer have rejected.

The three flew from Maryland to Texas and landed at Joint Base San Antonio early Friday to begin medical evaluations after spending some time with their family members. If they choose, they can receive treatment the military offers to wrongfully detained Americans.

The dissidents released included Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer serving 25 years on charges of treason widely seen as politically motivated, as well as multiple associates of Navalny. Freed Kremlin critics included Oleg Orlov, a veteran human rights campaigner convicted of discrediting the Russian military, and Ilya Yashin, imprisoned for criticizing the war in Ukraine.

The Russian side got Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison for killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services. Throughout the negotiations, Moscow had been persistent in pressing for his release, with Putin himself raising it.

At the time of Navalny's death, officials were discussing a possible exchange involving Krasikov. But with that prospect erased, senior U.S. officials, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, made a fresh push to encourage Germany to release Krasikov. In the end, a handful of the prisoners Russia released were either German nationals or dual German-Russian nationals.

Russia also received two alleged sleeper agents jailed in Slovenia, as well as three men charged by federal authorities in the U.S., including Roman Seleznev, a convicted computer hacker and the son of a Russian lawmaker, and Vadim Konoshchenok, a suspected Russian intelligence operative accused of providing American-made electronics and ammunition to the Russian military. Norway returned an academic arrested on suspicions of being a Russian spy; Poland sent back a man it detained on espionage charges.

“Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world,” Biden said.

All told, six countries released at least one prisoner and a seventh, Turkey, participated by hosting the location for the swap, in Ankara.

Biden placed securing the release of Americans held wrongfully overseas at the top of his foreign policy agenda for the six months before he leaves office. In an Oval Office address discussing his decision to drop his bid for a second term, Biden said, “We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”

At one point Thursday, he grabbed the hand of Whelan's sister, Elizabeth, and said she had practically been living at the White House as the administration tried to free Paul. He then motioned for Kurmasheva’s daughter, Miriam, to come closer and took her hand, telling the room it was her 13th birthday. He asked everyone to sing “Happy Birthday” with him. She wiped tears from her eyes.

The Biden administration has now brought home more than 70 Americans detained in other countries as part of deals that have required the U.S. to give up a broad array of convicted criminals, including for drug and weapons offenses. The swaps, though celebrated with fanfare, have spurred criticism that they incentivize future hostage-taking and give adversaries leverage over the U.S. and its allies.

The U.S. government's top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, has sought to defend the deals by saying the number of wrongfully detained Americans has actually gone down even as swaps have increased.

Tucker, the Journal's editor-in-chief, acknowledged the debate, writing, “We know the U.S. government is keenly aware, as are we, that the only way to prevent a quickening cycle of arresting innocent people as pawns in cynical geopolitical games is to remove the incentive for Russia and other nations that pursue the same detestable practice."

Though she called for a change to the dynamic, “for now,” she wrote, “we are celebrating the return of Evan.”

Thursday’s swap of 24 prisoners surpassed a deal involving 14 people that was struck in 2010. In that exchange, Washington freed 10 Russians living in the U.S. as sleepers, while Moscow deported four Russians, including Sergei Skripal, a double agent working with British intelligence. He and his daughter in 2018 were nearly killed in Britain by nerve agent poisoning blamed on Russian agents.

Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startlingly quick trial for Gershkovich, which Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison.

In a trial that concluded in two days in secrecy in the same week as Gershkovich’s, Kurmasheva was convicted on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military that her family, employer and U.S. officials rejected. Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.

Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, he moved to Russia in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the Journal in 2022.

Gershkovich was designated as wrongfully detained, as was Whelan, who was detained in December 2018 after traveling to Russia for a wedding.

Whelan, who was serving a 16-year prison sentence, had been excluded from prior high-profile deals involving Russia, including the April 2022 swap by Moscow of imprisoned Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy. That December, the U.S. released notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who had been jailed on drug charges.

“Paul Whelan is free. Our family is grateful to the United States government for making Paul’s freedom a reality,” his family said in a statement.

On a warm and steamy night, the freed Americans lingered on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, soaking up the moment of their return to the U.S. They took selfies with family members and friends, shared hugs with Biden and Harris, and patted loved ones on the back and smothered them with kisses.

At one point, Biden gave Whelan the flag pin off his own lapel.

Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia, and Lee from Mongolia. Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and Zeke Miller and Colleen Long contributed to this report.

Evan Gershkovich, right, is hugged as he arrives at Kelly Field after being released by Russia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Paul Whelan shows a pin he received from President Joe Biden as he arrives at Kelly Field after being released by Russia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Paul Whelan, center, stands with Alsu Kurmasheva, center left, Evan Gershkovich, center right, and family as they prepare to pose for a photo upon their arrival at Kelly Field after being released by Russia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Evan Gershkovich talks on the phone after he arrived at Kelly Field after being released by Russia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Alsu Kurmasheva, second from right, hugs family members after she arrived at Kelly Field after she was released by Russia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich, second from right, walks through a hangar at Kelly Field after he was released by Russia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Alsu Kurmasheva, second from left, is greeted by family members after she arrived at Kelly Field after she was released by Russia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in San Antonio. Reporter Evan Gershkovich, also released, is at right. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

President Joe Biden, left, greets Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden speaks after greeting reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden speaks after greeting reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden, center, and Vice President Kamala Harris, left, greet Paul Whelan, right, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Vice President Kamala Harris, left, greets reporter Evan Gershkovich at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden, center right, and Vice President Kamala Harris, center left, walk to greet reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich, center, is greeted on the tarmac by his mother, Ella Milman, as President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris look on at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following the release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greet reporter Evan Gershkovich at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich greets colleagues at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Alsu Kurmasheva, second right, hugs her husband Pavel Butorin, from left, and daughters Miriam Butorin and Bibi Butorin at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following her release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Miriam Butorin, from left, and Bibi Butorin, daughters of Alsu Kurmasheva, run to hug their mother at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following her release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich hugs his mother, Ella Milman, as President Joe Biden, right, looks on at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, from left, and Vice President Kamala Harris greet reporter Evan Gershkovich at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich hugs his mother, Ella Milman, as President Joe Biden, right, looks on at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, left, greets Alsu Kurmasheva at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following her release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Family of Evan Gershkovich brother-in-law Anthony Huczek, from left, sister Danielle Gershkovich and father Mikhail Gershkovich, watch as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greet Gershkovich at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Elizabeth Whelan, left, greets her brother Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Alsu Kurmasheva, center, hugs her daughters Miriam Butorin, left, and Bibi Butorin at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following her release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Vice President Kamala Harris, right, looks on at Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Joe Biden looks on as Alsu Kurmasheva hugs a family member on the tarmac after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich hugs his mother Ella Milman, left, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Looking on at right is Elizabeth Whelan, sister of released prisoner Paul Whelan. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich, center, is greeted on the tarmac by his mother, Ella Milman, left, as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris look on at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich hugs his mother, Ella Milman, as President Joe Biden, right, looks on at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Joe Biden, left, hugs Alsu Kurmasheva at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following her release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Reporter Evan Gershkovich hugs his mother, Ella Milman at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Elizabeth Whelan, right, hugs her brother Paul Whelan at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following his release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A plane carrying reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan lands at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A plane carrying reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan lands at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., following their release as part of a 24-person prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In this image taken from video, employees at the Wall Street Journal in New York applaud at the news that reporter Evan Gershkovich, pictured top left, has been released as part of a prisoner swap with Russia, the United States and several other countries, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (Vaughn Sterling/The Wall Street Journal via AP)

The top news the day is displayed on a ticker outside the headquarters of The Wall Street Journal in New York, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia have completed a 24-person prisoner swap on Thursday, the largest in post-Soviet history, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A Russian Plane, right, believed to be carrying released Russian prisoners, moves to take off at the Ankara Airport, Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)

In this image made from video provided by Russian Federal Security Service via RTR on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich sits inside an airplane at an airport outside Moscow, Russia. (Russian Federal Security Service/RTR via AP)

President Joe Biden, right, reaches out to hold hands with Elizabeth Whelan, left, as he delivers remarks on a prisoner swap with Russia from the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Washington. Elizabeth Whelan's brother, Paul Whelan, was part of the prisoner swap. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden, right, hugging Miriam Butorin, center, as Elizabeth Whelan, left, looks on after he delivered remarks on a prisoner swap with Russia from the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In this image made from video provided by Russian Federal Security Service via RTR on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, Paul Whelan, center, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested on espionage charges, is escorted by Russian Federal Security Service agents, left, as they arrive at an airport outside Moscow, Russia. (Russian Federal Security Service/RTR via AP)

In this image made from video provided by Russian Federal Security Service via RTR on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, center,is escorted by a Russian Federal Security Service agent, left, as they arrive at an airport outside Moscow, Russia. (Russian Federal Security Service/RTR via AP)

This image released by the White House shows Evan Gershkovich, left, Alsu Kurmasheva, right, and Paul Whelan, second from right, and others aboard a plane, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, following their release from Russian captivity. (White House via AP)

President Joe Biden, center, delivers remarks on a prisoner swap with Russia from the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Planes believed to be carrying prisoners coming from Russia upon their arrival at the Ankara Airport, Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free, according to officials in Turkey, where the exchange took place. (AP Photo)

Planes believed to be carrying prisoners coming from Russia upon their arrival at the Ankara Airport, Turkey, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free, according to officials in Turkey, where the exchange took place. (AP Photo)

FILE - Sasha Skochilenko, a 33 year-old artist and musician shows a heart behind bars in the court room as she waits for a hearing in the Vasileostrovsky district court in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Skochilenko, an artist and musician, was convicted in 2023 of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to seven years in prison. She denied the charges. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool, File)

FILE - The co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Memorial Human Rights Centre Oleg Orlov gestures standing in a glass cage after he was taken into custody in the courtroom during court session for a new trial on charges of repeated discrediting Russian military, in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Orlov, a veteran human rights campaigner, was convicted of publicly discrediting the Russian military and sentenced to 2½ years in prison in 2024. He has rejected the charges as politically motivated. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - Andrei Pivovarov, former head of Open Russia movement, speaks with media in Moscow, Russia, on July 9, 2020.Pivovarov, a prominent opposition figure, was convicted in 2022 of involvement in an "undesirable" organization and sentenced to four years in prison. He has rejected the charges as politically motivated. (AP Photo/Denis Kaminev, File)

FILE - Lilia Chanysheva makes a heart gesture as she stands in a cage during a hearing in Kirovskiy District Court in Ufa, Russia, on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Chanysheva, a former associate of the late opposition politician Alexei Navalny, was convicted in 2023 of extremism charges, widely seen as politically motivated, and sentenced to 9½ years in prison. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service, attends a court hearing in Kazan, Russia on May 31, 2024. Kurmasheva, a dual Russia-U.S. national employed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was convicted July 19 of spreading false information about the Russian army and sentenced to 6½ years in prison. Her family and RFE/RL have rejected the charges. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Russian opposition activist and former municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district Ilya Yashin stands inside a glass cubicle in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 9, 2022. (Yury Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza gestures standing in a glass cage in a courtroom during announcement of the verdict on appeal at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, on July 31, 2023. Kara-Murza, a prominent opposition politician and a dual Russian-U.K. citizen, was convicted of treason and other charges in 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He has rejected the charges as politically motivated. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested on espionage charges, listens to the verdict in court in Moscow, Russia, on June 15, 2020. (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP, File)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands listening to the verdict in a glass cage of a courtroom inside the building of "Palace of justice," in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

This photo combination shows, in the centre, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and clockwise from top left are Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, corporate security executive and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Lilia Chanysheva, former coordinator of regional offices of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny, co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Memorial Human Rights Centre Oleg Orlov, artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko, Russian opposition activist and former municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district Ilya Yashin, government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service Alsu Kurmasheva and former head of Open Russia movement Andrei Pivovarov. (AP Photo)

This photo combination shows, clockwise from top left: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, corporate security executive Paul Whelan, former head of Open Russia movement Andrei Pivovarov, Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service Alsu Kurmasheva, and Lilia Chanysheva, former coordinator of regional offices of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny. (AP Photo)

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands listening to the verdict in a glass cage of a courtroom inside the building of "Palace of justice," in Yekaterinburg, Russia, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to the head of the Republic of Mordovia Artem Zdunov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

It was just a few sentences in a meandering, hourlong presidential speech on a Friday afternoon.

Along with talk about falling egg prices and a vow to expel “corrupt forces” from the U.S. government, President Donald Trump noted that hundreds of members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had been arrested.

“You’ll be reading a lot of stories tomorrow about what we’ve done with them,” he said at the Justice Department on March 14. “These are tough people and bad people and we’re getting them out of our country.”

“You’ll be very impressed,” he added.

Trump was previewing drama to come that would involve clandestine flights to another continent, a notorious prison, innocents among criminals and a dramatic confrontation between his assertions of presidential power and a federal judge who Trump said had overreached.

The president's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify deporting more than 130 Venezuelan men, some of them gang members and others who claim to have been in the United States legally and were seemingly expelled because of their ordinary tattoos, played out over a frenetic 24 hours.

By the time Trump had spoken, hundreds of detained immigrants had been quietly shuttled from across the U.S. to South Texas. Planes had been chartered to take them to their ultimate destination, El Salvador, under a deal with President Nayib Bukele, who proudly calls himself “world’s coolest dictator.”

The men were herded into a maximum security mega prison in El Salvador, where officials quickly made a show of the new inmates having their heads shaved, then standing shoulder to shoulder in cells so crowded that some prisoners do not have beds.

But soon, stories began to surface that the scene was not quite as it appeared. Some of them men had long insisted they had no gang ties, and their families had produced documents showing they had no criminal records.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve seen some pretty weird stuff,” said Texas attorney John Dutton, who represented a man who disappeared into the Salvadoran prison. “But to do this in the middle of the night, to send people to another country, and straight to a prison when they haven’t been convicted of a crime?

“It makes no sense.”

It made sense in the White House.

Trump has been promising for years that he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act to combat illegal immigration. He repeatedly insisted, falsely, that the U.S. was facing an invasion of criminal immigrants.

Tren de Aragua became the face of that threat, and the first target of that law in decades.

Crafted during the presidency of John Adams, the law gives the president broad powers to imprison and deport noncitizens in times of war. It has been used just three times: during the War of 1812 and the two world wars.

The Trump administration had begun edging closer to calling the criminal migrant issue a war, most notably by designating eight Latin American criminal groups, including Tren de Aragua, as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

The administration was telegraphing its logical next move. Immigration lawyers prepared to fight back.

The flights began arriving in the small South Texas city on March 12.

Using jets chartered by a branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the ICE Air flights landed in Harlingen from Dallas, Phoenix, El Paso, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee. At least three came from Alexandria, Louisiana, a hub for that state’s network of immigration detention centers.

But it wasn’t until Saturday, March 15, that it became clear to a retired financial executive in Ohio that something unusual was happening.

Two flights, Tom Cartwright noticed, were scheduled from Harlingen to El Salvador.

Deportations are fairly rare on Saturdays, as are deportation flights from Harlingen to El Salvador, said Cartwright, a flight data analyst for the advocacy group Witness at the Border, whose social media feeds are closely watched in immigration circles.

“All that came together and said to me: There’s something weird here.”

Court documents later showed that for at least the previous week, Venezuelan men in immigration detention centers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and elsewhere were being moved by bus and plane toward ICE’s El Valle Detention Facility, a 40-minute drive from the Harlingen airport.

One of those men was a makeup artist who said he fled Venezuela last summer after his boss at a state-run news channel publicly slapped him.

In a country where political repression and open homophobia are both part of life, it’s hard to be a gay man who does not support President Nicolás Maduro.

Walking and traveling by bus and taxi through Central America and Mexico, Andry José Hernández Romero hoped to find a new life in the U.S. He used a U.S. Customs and Border Protection phone app to arrange an appointment at a U.S. border crossing in San Diego.

That’s where he was asked about his tattoos, and where his trouble started.

U.S. immigration authorities use a series of “gang identifiers” to help them spot members of Tren de Aragua. Some are obvious, such as trafficking drugs with known Tren members.

Some identifiers are more surprising: Chicago Bulls jerseys, “high-end urban street wear,” and tattoos of clocks, stars or crowns, according to government instructional material filed in court by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Tattoos were key to marking many deported men as Tren members, according to documents and lawyers.

Romero, who is in his early 20s, has a crown tattooed on each wrist. One is next to the word “Mom.” The other next to “Dad.” The crowns, according to his lawyer, also pay homage to his hometown’s Christmastime “Three Kings” festival, and to his work in beauty pageants, where crowns are common.

Romero, who insists he has no ties to Tren, was taken into ICE custody and transferred to a California detention center.

And then, around March 7, he was suddenly moved to a facility in Laredo, Texas, a three-hour bus ride from the Harlingen airport.

Friday, March 14, was supposed to be quiet for Javier Maldonado.

“I had come in to work late, like 10 in the morning,” said Maldonado, a Texas immigration lawyer based in San Antonio. “I was having my coffee, and thought I was going to do admin work and catch up on emails and phone calls.”

He was wrong.

The Alien Enemies Act was hours away from being invoked, and more than a day from being announced, but word was starting to filter out from a group of Venezuelan men held at El Valle Detention Center, near Harlingen. Around 3 a.m., roughly 100 had been roused from sleep by guards and told they were being deported. Some were told they would be flown to Mexico, some to Venezuela. Many were told nothing.

Ten hours later, the men were back in their bunks. The flight had been canceled, they were told, and they would leave soon.

But a few men contacted relatives or lawyers.

Within hours, an informal legal network was frantically at work, from a lawyer in Brooklyn to a law school professor in Los Angeles to a University of Florida law student interning with an El Paso immigrant advocacy firm. All were working with Texas lawyers like Maldonado who would file petitions in federal court.

“It’s a small circle, relatively, of lawyers that do this sort of work,” he said.

Even people who cross illegally into the U.S. have rights. Some of the men the lawyers were defending have Temporary Protected Status, a legal classification that shields roughly 350,000 Venezuelans from deportation.

Communication between lawyers and detainees was often chaotic. Messages sometimes were relayed through relatives in Venezuela.

But guards, said one man, had made something clear.

“The order from the president is to deport them all.”

Trump was aboard Air Force One that Friday when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act en route to his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Tren de Aragua, his proclamation said, was attempting “an invasion or predatory incursion” of the United States.

Publicly, though, the administration said nothing.

Still, word was spreading about the planned flights to El Salvador. A Texas lawyer had filmed a bus leaving the El Valle facility under police escort, apparently heading to the airport.

While Trump's use of the law had not yet been announced, two legal advocacy groups, the ACLU and Democracy Forward, felt they had to file preemptively.

“We couldn’t take a chance that nothing was going to happen,” said Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, the lead attorney.

They spent hours drafting a petition on behalf of five detained Venezuelans who feared being falsely labeled members of Tren and deported. They crafted legal arguments until they felt time was running out.

Finally, they filed the petition with the U.S. District Court in Washington, seeking to halt all deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

It was 2:16 a.m. Saturday.

Later that day, after Judge James E. Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order in response to the ACLU lawsuit and scheduled a 5 p.m. hearing, things in Texas began to move faster.

Guards gathered prisoners at the El Valle detention center, ordering them onto buses for the airport at about 3:30 p.m.

The flights carried a total of 261 deportees, the White House later said, including 137 Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act, 101 under other immigration regulations, and 23 El Salvadoran members of the gang MS-13.

About 4 p.m. the White House posted Trump’s proclamation.

Roughly an hour later Boasberg opened his hearing over Zoom.

“First, apologies for my attire,” he began, dressed in a blue sweater. “I went away for the weekend and brought with me neither a robe nor tie nor appropriate shirt.”

Things quickly grew more serious. Boasberg asked whether the government planned to deport anyone under the new proclamation “in the next 24 or 48 hours.” The ACLU warned that deportation planes were about to take off. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said he was unsure of the flight details.

Boasberg called a recess so Ensign could get more information. When Ensign came back empty-handed, the judge issued a new order to stop the deportations being carried out under the centuries-old law.

He noted specifically that any planes in the air needed to come back.

"This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” he told Ensign.

It was about 6:45 p.m.

By then, two ICE Air planes were heading across the Gulf of Mexico and toward Central America. Neither turned around.

The airliners stopped in Honduras before making the short final flight to El Salvador.

Fear swept the plane when the doors opened and the prisoners realized where they were. Many knew the reputation of El Salvador’s prisons.

“Everyone was scared,” a Nicaraguan woman accidently put on a flight said in a legal declaration after returning to the U.S. “Some people had to forcibly be removed from the plane.”

What followed was soon set to music by the El Salvadoran government, which released videos of shackled men struggling to walk as officers forced down their heads and marched them to the immense Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT prison.

The next morning, Bukele, El Salvador’s president, tweeted a New York Post headline saying Boasberg had ordered the planes turned around.

“Oopsie … Too late,” Bukele wrote, adding a laughing/crying emoji.

The Trump administration is now urging the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. Boasberg soon could rule on whether there are grounds to find anyone in contempt of court for defying his court order.

As for Romero, the makeup artist, he's somewhere in CECOT.

As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, a prison guard transfers deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP, File)

Prisoners sit in their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A prisoner with a tattoo with leg irons on stands as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, March 16, 2023. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via AP, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, prison guards transfer deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 16, 2025. (El Salvador presidential press office via AP, File)

FILE - A mega-prison known as Detention Center Against Terrorism (CECOT) stands in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez, File)

Prisoners look out of their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)