President Bukele said his country would accept criminals convicted of all nationalities, including American citizens, in his penitentiary system, for a fee.
Salvador president Nayib Bukele proposed to accept expelled from all nationality from the United States, including American citizens.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the end of the day that Mr. Bukele “accepted the most extraordinary and unprecedented migratory agreement in the world”.
Mr. Rubio described this agreement as a “secure country” agreement to expel citizens who have broken American immigration laws. This would mean that the United States could expel non-salvadorian migrants to Salvador.
“He also proposed to do the same for dangerous criminals currently in detention and who are serving their sentence in the United States, even if they are American citizens or legal residents,” said Rubio.
Bukele confirmed the offer in a message on X, declaring that Salvador had “offered America in the United States of America the possibility of outsourcing part of their penitentiary system”. He added that his country would only accept the “condemned criminals” and would ask for a royalty which “would be relatively low for the United States, but significant for us, which would make our entire penitentiary system viable.”
Elon Musk, the billionaire who works with Trump to reshape the federal government, responded on his X platform: “Excellent idea !!!”
However, such a measure would collide with significant legal difficulties, as The American government cannot expel American citizens.
After Rubio’s intervention, an American official said that the Trump administration did not intend to try to expel American citizens, but that Bukele’s offer was important.
The State Department qualifies the overcrowded prisons of Salvador as “hard and dangerous”. On its information web page on the country, you can read: “In many establishments, health facilities, drinking water, ventilation, temperature control and lighting are inadequate or non -existent”.
Rubio was visiting Salvador to put pressure on a friend government so that he will do more to respond to President Donald Trump’s requests for a major immigration repression.
Separately, the US Secretary of Defense, Peter Hegseth, went to the southern border of the country, his first visit since he was sworn in.
Addressing the media during his visit, he stressed that the Trump administration intended to fully control the border, with intergovernmental agencies working in the application of border security.
“The accomplishment of the mission means 100 % operational control of the border,” said HegSeth, adding that “thousands of active service soldiers and the National Guard come to the border with means and systems additional that allow us to monitor. “
Video Editor • Rory Elliott Armstrong
