Ten Americans have headed home to the United States following their release from custody in Venezuela as part of a deal where gang members sent by President Donald Trump to an El Salvador prison served as the critical bargaining chips.

The Special Envoy For Hostage Affairs posted a photo of the jubilant former detainees on their flight to freedom, a large American flag spread over the width of the jet’s cabin.

Said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an official statement:

Thanks to President [Donald] Trump’s leadership and commitment to the American people, the United States welcomes home ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela. Until today, more Americans were wrongfully held in Venezuela than any other country in the world. It is unacceptable that Venezuelan regime representatives arrested and jailed U.S. nationals under highly questionable circumstances and without proper due process. Every wrongfully detained American in Venezuela is now free and back in our homeland.

Rubio also credited El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

“I want to thank my team at the State Department, as well as our interagency partners, and especially El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele,” he said, “for their work to secure these long-awaited releases and their efforts to ensure the safety of U.S. nationals both at home and abroad.”

The freed Americans are part of a prisoner exchange where the El Salvadoran president agreed to free hundreds of Venezuelans being held in a maximum-security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, according to news reports. That swap was in return for Salvadoran prisoners being held in Venezuela.

As Breitbart News reported, in a highly publicized move condemned by Democrat leaders, the U.S. shipped the Venezuelans to El Salvador earlier this year under the auspices of the in 1798 Alien Enemies Act. It was part of the deportation of alleged Tren de Aragua members and bypassed traditional immigration procedures.

Many of the deportees’ families and lawyers denied the gang connections, Fox reported.

President Bukele disagreed, posting on X:

“Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country, accused of being part of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TDA). Many of them face multiple charges of murder, robbery, rape, and other serious crimes.”

“This operation is the result of months of negotiations with a tyrannical regime that had long refused to release one of its most valuable bargaining chips: its hostages,” he added.

Some of the families of the returning Americans released statements, including one who condemned Venezuela’s tyrannical regime.

Christian Casteneda, whose brother Wilbert, a Navy SEAL, was arrested in a Caracas hotel room last year, said in a statement: “We have prayed for this day for almost a year. My brother is an innocent man who was used as a political pawn by the Maduro regime.”

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.