El Salvador Has Offered To Take In Criminals Deported By Trump In Its Notorious Mega Prison
Bukele said he had offered the US to take convicted criminals "in exchange for a fee".
El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele has offered to take in criminals and migrants deported by the US and jail them in the country’s notorious mega-prison.
On Feb. 3, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited El Salvador to kick off his diplomatic tour in Central America that sought to discuss immigration, regional security, China’s influence in the region and economic partnerships.
After the meeting, Bukele said he had offered the US to take convicted criminals, including convicted US citizens, into the country’s mega-prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) “in exchange for a fee”.
Rubio said on X that the offer was an “extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country”.
The US senator gave further details, saying El Salvador had offered to take members of the MS-13, a Salvadoran gang originating in Los Angeles, California, members of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization, and convicted US citizens and legal residents.
According to Bukele, the prisoners deported by the US would be jailed in CECOT, the largest prison in Latin America, which can house approximately 40,000 inmates, was opened in 2023 as part of Bukele’s plan to crack down on gang violence in the country.
El Salvador’s government has said the prison housed 14,500 inmates as of August 2024, but human rights organizations said the number of inmates was much higher with overcrowding reaching 133%, according to Reuters.
Inmates appear to be confined to just 0.5 square meters — far below the Red Cross’s recommended 3.4 square meters per prisoner — and the prison lacks recreational spaces, violating UN rules for prisoners, according to the BBC.
Access to CECOT has been limited to journalists and some YouTubers, but videos of the prison show windowless cells and dozens of inmates peering down from metal bunk beds.
Bukele has declared the state of emergency since March 2022 and human rights organizations have since reported arbitrary detentions, abuse in prisons and even deaths of people in government custody.
US President Donald Trump has welcomed the offer and said his administration is looking into it.
“I’m just saying if we had the legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat," Trump said, adding that his administration is studying the offer, according to NPR.
US courts have ruled US citizens cannot be deported for committing crimes, according to the BBC.
However, people who have obtained citizenship through naturalization, the legal process to change a person’s nationality, could have their citizenship stripped away in cases of fraud or ties to terrorist groups.
In regards to criminals that are non-American or Salvadoran, they could be deported to a prison in another country if and agreement is in place.
"There has to be an agreement with this third country, and there has to be a clear sense that the person is not going to be in danger in that country, and they have to be able to challenge being sent to another country," a US civil rights organization, ACLU, told NPR.
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