President Bukele’s proposal consists of imprisoning US criminals in El Salvador’s largest jail for a payment.
El Salvador’s president has proposed jailing convicts from the US in his nation, an “unprecedented” supply praised by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Nayib Bukele made the supply whereas internet hosting Rubio at his Lake Coatepeque residence, exterior San Salvador, on Monday.
Bukele stated El Salvador is able to imprison the convicted Individuals for cost in a jail he opened a yr in the past that’s the largest in Latin America.
“We now have provided the US of America the chance to outsource a part of its jail system,” Bukele wrote on X. “The payment can be comparatively low for the US however important for us, making our whole jail system sustainable.”
We now have provided the US of America the chance to outsource a part of its jail system.
We’re prepared to absorb solely convicted criminals (together with convicted U.S. residents) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in change for a payment.
The payment can be comparatively low for… pic.twitter.com/HTNwtp35Aq
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) February 4, 2025
Following the three-hour assembly, Rubio informed reporters that Bukele “agreed to essentially the most unprecedented, extraordinary, extraordinary migratory settlement wherever on the planet”.
“He has provided to accommodate in his jails harmful American criminals in custody in our nation, together with these with US citizenship and authorized residency. No nation’s ever made a suggestion of friendship corresponding to this. We’re profoundly grateful.”
The US State Division describes El Salvador’s overcrowded prisons as “harsh and harmful”. The division’s web site, within the data on El Salvador, says “in lots of amenities, provisions for sanitation, potable water, air flow, temperature management, and lighting are insufficient or nonexistent”.
Rubio added that Bukele was additionally prepared to take again Salvadoran residents in addition to international nationals. He appeared to counsel the main focus in El Salvador can be on jailing members of Latin American gangs, corresponding to El Salvador’s MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
“Any illegal immigrant and unlawful immigrant in the US who’s a harmful legal – MS-13, Tren de Aragua, no matter it might be — he has provided his jails,” Rubio stated.
Since his return to the White Home final month, Trump has put precedence on rushing up deportation of thousands and thousands of individuals within the US who’re with out authorized standing.
Trump has additionally unveiled plans to detain 30,000 migrants on the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – a jail that earlier Democratic presidents hoped to shut.
Bukele, who has launched an unflinching safety crackdown in his nation, is seen by the Trump administration as a key ally in its migration efforts.
Since taking energy in 2019, Bukele’s authorities has arrested greater than 80,000 individuals, bringing the variety of homicides down sharply in what was as soon as one of many world’s most violent international locations.
Whereas Bukele’s actions have confronted criticism from human rights teams, which have documented mass torture and abuse within the nation’s overcrowded jails, he swept again to energy final yr with the general public grateful for the plunging crime.