President Bukele said his country will accept convicted criminals of all nationalities, including US citizens, into its prison system for a fee.
ADVERTISEMENTEl Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has offered to accept deportees of any nationality from the US, including US citizens.
US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said late on Monday that Bukele “has agreed to the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.”
Rubio described the agreement as a “safe third country” deal to deport citizens who have violated US immigration laws. It would mean the US could deport non-Salvadorean migrants to El Salvador.
“He’s also offered to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentence in the United States even though they’re US citizens or legal residents,” Rubio said.
Bukele confirmed the offer in a post on X, saying El Salvador has “offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.” He said his country would accept only “convicted criminals” and would charge a fee that “would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”
Elon Musk, the billionaire working with Trump to remake the federal government, responded on his X platform, “Great idea!!”
Such a move would be met with significant legal challenges, however, as the US government cannot deport American citizens.
After Rubio spoke, a US official said the Trump administration had no current plans to try to deport American citizens, but said Bukele’s offer was significant.
The State Department describes El Salvador’s overcrowded prisons as “harsh and dangerous.” On its current country information webpage it says, “In many facilities, provisions for sanitation, potable water, ventilation, temperature control, and lighting are inadequate or nonexistent.”
Rubio was visiting El Salvador to press a friendly government to do more to meet President Donald Trump’s demands for a major crackdown on immigration.
Separately, US Defence Secretary Peter Hegseth went to the country’s southern border, his first visit since being sworn in.
Speaking to media during his visit, he emphasised that the Trump administration intends to fully control the border, with intergovernmental agencies working to enforce border security.
“Mission accomplishment means 100% operational control of the border,” Hegseth said, adding that “thousands of active-duty and National Guard troops come to the border with additional assets and systems that allow us to surveil.”
Video editor • Rory Elliott Armstrong
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