LA LIBERTAD, EL SALVADOR - NOVEMBER 20: President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele speaks during the inauguration of a new Vijosa Laboratories plant on November 20, 2023 in La Libertad, El Salvador. (Photo by Alex Peña/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump welcomed El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s offer to house convicted criminals in El Salvador’s mega-prison system. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed the deal and was stunned that Bukule “agreed to the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.”
Bukule offered to take in migrants deported from the U.S. regardless of their nationality and extended the deal to jail those already serving their sentences in the U.S. After meeting with Rubio, Bukele confirmed that he “offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.”
“[Bukele] has also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentences in the United States even though they’re U.S. citizens or legal residents,” Rubio said.
It is a major win for Trump as the administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigration continues.
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However, legal experts say that any attempt by the Trump administration to carry out the plan would most likely be challenged in court.
The jail, CECOT (the Spanish acronym for Terrorism Confinement Center), a symbol of El Salvador’s authoritarian approach to crime and punishment, can house 40,000 inmates. As outlined by the El Salvadorian president, the parameters of the deal stipulate that the country would be “willing to take in only convicted criminals” if his government receives “a fee.”
“The fee would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,” Bukele said.
Trump immediately accepted the offer. “If we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Trump said in response to the deal.
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk posted on X that it was a “great idea.”
However, human rights groups and critics of right-wing politics have expressed alarm at the idea.
The Department of State El Salvador Travel Advisory details the “harsh” and inhumane prison conditions in the country. This includes overcrowding and inadequate “provisions for sanitation, potable water, ventilation, temperature control, and lighting.”
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