El Salvador's Bukele says violent gang bangers are literal Satan worshippers, in sharp immigration warning

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele joined the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, warning attendees that violent gang members in his country have a documented history of worshiping Satan - and that some of those gang members have crossed into the U.S.

"Many people don't know that our enemy was not just the flesh and blood, but spiritual as well. The gangs didn't just murder, rape, extort. They also worship Satan," Bukele said on Thursday morning from the U.S. Capitol. "It's straight up. Literally. When we went to their homes to arrest them, we discovered altars that were used for satanic rituals."

"This is well documented. We put up the pictures, the videos right away. But for some reason, the global mainstream media didn't think it was worth it to cover it. But we know gangs in El Salvador were satanic and they worshiped Satan," he continued. 

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He warned the body of bipartisan lawmakers and business leaders: "Some of those gangs are here in the United States."

Bukele has previously warned that El Salvador's security forces found alleged MS-13-linked "satanic" altars and ritual materials during raids. 

Bukele is a Trump ally who struck a deal with the U.S. government in 2025 to accept hundreds of Venezuelan gang members, who were illegally living in the United States, into El Salvador's notoriously no-nonsense, high-security prison. 

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Bukele said crime has cratered in his country after snuffing out violent gang syndicates with prison time and law-and-order policies.

"El Salvador was the murder capital of the world. That was our nickname, murder capital of the world. The most dangerous place in the whole wide world. And now it's the safest country in the whole continent," he said Thursday.

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President Donald Trump also addressed the prayer breakfast, reflecting on the administration's mission to protect religious liberty.

"They declared that all of us are made free and equal by the hand of our creator," Trump said of the Founding Fathers. "A lot of presidents refuse to say that.… Some major politicians refuse to say the word God. They don't want to say it. I say it, that we are endowed with our sacred rights to life, liberty, and not by government, but by God Almighty himself."