El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele offered to swap 252 detained Venezuelans for political prisoners and foreign nationals held in Venezuela. He framed the deal as a humanitarian gesture aimed at freeing opposition figures and journalists.

Venezuela pushed back, demanding legal records and accusing El Salvador of violating human rights.

The U.S. has backed El Salvador’s detentions, but courts recently paused further deportations amid legal and political backlash.

Across the country, cannabis users today will celebrate 4/20, a day synonymous with the plant's consumption and a symbol of its growing acceptance.

But for thousands of people still incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses, 4/20 is not a day of celebration; it’s a reminder of an unjust system that has yet to make amends.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) said he is traveling to El Salvador on Wednesday to check on the status of a deported legal resident. 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia made headlines after being removed by the Trump administration in an “administrative error” and sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT maximum security prison to be detained. 

“Following his abduction and unlawful deportation, U.S. federal courts have ordered the safe return of my constituent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States,” Van Hollen said in a Tuesday statement.

The White House is "looking into" the legality of sending U.S. citizens to prisons in El Salvador, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Tuesday.

The big picture: President Trump has recently threatened to send Americans to a notorious El Salvador prison where several deported Venezuelans, who are alleged to be members of the MS-13 gang, and one erroneously deported Maryland man are being held.

Russian-American woman Ksenia Karelina, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for treason in Russia, was released as part of a prisoner exchange that saw her swapped for an accused smuggler held in the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X early on Thursday that Karelina had been released and was on her way to the United States.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release,” Rubio said on X.

Russia and the U.S. carried out a prisoner swap early Thursday in Abu Dhabi in a sign of continuing confidence building, as the two sides pursue a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina was released from Kremlin custody in a prisoner swap with the United States Thursday morning.

Karelina was freed in exchange for German-Russian Arthur Petrov at a swap in Abu Dhabi, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

“She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. @POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans,” he added.

New York state prisons will release some inmates early because the system does not have enough corrections officers, weeks after the state fired more than 2,000 guards who went on strike over poor working conditions.

In a memo Monday, corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello directed prison leaders to begin identifying inmates who were convicted of minor crimes and already set for release within 15 to 110 days to be considered for an early discharge.

Three detainees have been released from detention in Belarus, including one American, the White House said on Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to forge a deal to end the war in Ukraine with Minsk's ally, Russia.

"We can confirm the safe release of one American and two individuals from Belarus," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. Leavitt did not name the American who had been released.