El Salvador’s prisons, notorious for their brutal conditions, may soon house not only its own criminals but also convicted U.S. felons under a controversial deal with the Trump administration. The unprecedented agreement has sparked outrage, raising legal and ethical concerns about outsourcing incarceration.
El Salvador has agreed to house violent U.S. criminals and accept deportees of any nationality under a new agreement with the Trump administration, officials from both countries announced Monday. The unprecedented deal has sparked criticism from human rights organizations and advocacy groups, raising concerns about its legality and ethical implications.
A “Historic” Agreement
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled the agreement after a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, as part of his visit to Central America to advance the Trump administration’s migration policies.
“In an act of extraordinary friendship to our country … (El Salvador) has agreed to the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world,” Rubio told reporters.
According to Rubio, El Salvador will continue accepting its nationals deported from the U.S. and will also accept deportation of any illegal alien in the U.S. who is a convicted criminal, regardless of nationality. He specifically named MS-13, a gang with deep ties to El Salvador, and Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang.
In addition, Rubio revealed that Bukele has “offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents.”
Bukele Confirms the Deal on Social Media
Bukele took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the agreement, stating: “We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.”
He added that the fee would be “relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”
However, questions remain about whether the U.S. government will formally take up Bukele’s offer, given legal challenges surrounding the deportation of U.S. citizens.
Criticism and Human Rights Concerns
The agreement has been met with fierce opposition from human rights organizations and advocacy groups, which warn that it could set a dangerous precedent and potentially violate international laws on migrants’ rights.
Roman Palomares, National President and Chairman of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), condemned the move in a statement to CNN, calling it “a sad day for America.”
“We oppose treating deported non-criminal migrants like cattle who can be shuttled from one country to another without regard to their home of origin. These are human beings, and their lives are being destroyed,” Palomares said.
Emerson College professor Mneesha Gellman also criticized the deal, stating that the U.S. was “essentially proposing to send people to a country that is not the country of origin nor is it necessarily the country that they passed through.”
“It is a bizarre and unprecedented proposal being made potentially between two authoritarian, populist, right-wing leaders seeking a transactional relationship,” Gellman added. “It’s not rooted in any sort of legal provision and likely violates a number of international laws relating to the rights of migrants.”
Opposition Within El Salvador
Criticism of the agreement is not limited to the U.S. Manuel Flores, general secretary of El Salvador’s leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party, expressed outrage at a press conference Monday.
“What are we? Backyards, front yards, or garbage dumps?” he asked, criticizing El Salvador’s willingness to accept deportees expelled by the U.S.
El Salvador’s Controversial Mega-Prisons
A key aspect of the deal is the use of El Salvador’s prison system, which has come under scrutiny from human rights organizations. Under the country’s ongoing state of emergency, authorities can detain individuals on suspicion of gang affiliation without requiring concrete evidence or due process.
El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with over 80,000 people jailed since Bukele launched his crackdown on gangs in 2022. While Bukele boasts that his hardline approach has restored security, organizations like Amnesty International argue that many detainees are innocent and have been arrested arbitrarily.
The U.S. State Department has also issued travel advisories for El Salvador, warning that the country’s prisons are known for harsh conditions and lack of legal protections for detainees.
Despite international criticism, Bukele’s policies have drawn praise from the Trump administration, which has prioritized a crackdown on transnational gangs such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.
Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
The agreement with El Salvador is part of a broader immigration enforcement push by the Trump administration. The White House has mobilized multiple federal agencies to arrest, detain, and deport undocumented migrants, while also rolling back protections for those already in the U.S.
The arrangement between the U.S. and El Salvador bears similarities to “safe third country” agreements, in which the U.S. sends asylum seekers to a third country instead of processing their claims domestically.
Trump has also taken a hard stance against nations that refuse to accept deported nationals, previously threatening trade penalties against Colombia over repatriation issues.
On Friday, Trump announced that Venezuela had agreed to take back deported Venezuelan nationals, including gang members, reversing its previous refusal. The shift followed a meeting between White House envoy Richard Grenell and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, despite the U.S. government not officially recognizing Maduro’s administration.
Also Read: Donald Trump Temporarily Halts Tariffs On Canada And Mexico After Last-Minute Border Deals
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