Caracas, Venezuela - The head of the National Assembly in Caracas said Monday that Washington's expulsion of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador to be imprisoned amounted to a "crime against humanity."

"What is being committed against the Venezuelans held hostage in El Salvador and against the Venezuelan migrants in the United States is a crime against humanity," Jorge Rodriguez said at a news conference broadcast on state television.

The US, over the weekend, flew more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to be imprisoned in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele said, after his US counterpart Donald Trump controversially invoked wartime legislation to expel them.

The deportations took place despite a US federal judge granting a temporary suspension of the expulsion order – apparently as planes were already headed to El Salvador – raising questions over whether the Trump administration deliberately defied the court decision.

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Bukele later said 238 members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Trump has designated a foreign terrorist organization, had arrived in El Salvador. He shared a video on X of men in handcuffs and shackles being transferred from a plane to a heavily guarded convoy.

The presidency also posted photos of prisoners' heads being shaved upon arrival in El Salvador.

"The alleged American dream turned Salvadoran nightmare is not worth it," Rodriguez said Monday. "What is happening is a vulgar kidnapping."