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El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has offered to jail US deportees and violent criminals — including US citizens. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls it «unprecedented and extraordinary.»
What’s in El Salvador’s Proposal to Receive US Prisoners?
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele calls it «outsourcing» part of the US prison system
El Salvador would accept only convicted criminals -US deportees and criminals would be held in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum-security prison in Tecoluca
Bukele seeks a «fee» from the US, calling it «relatively low» for Washington but enough to sustain El Salvador’s prison system
A 23-hectare mega-prison built in 2022 and opened in January 2023 amid a gang crackdown
Built at a cost of $115 million
Can hold 40,000 inmates but housed just 14,500 as of August 2024, potentially leaving room for US prisoners
El Salvador has a history of human rights abuses, harsh prison conditions and torture
Is it Legal to Send US Citizens to El Salvador?
Trump said: “If we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat”
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told NPR that deporting US citizens would be unconstitutional
The US could hypothetically deport non-nationals to a third country, but it would require complex legal steps
Human rights groups warn that sending prisoners to El Salvador would raise serious concerns
