El Salvador offered last week to take custody of US prisoners and house them in its mega-prison for a fee, a proposal that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk not surprisingly welcomed.
“We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted US citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee,” Bukele wrote on X on Monday.
Trump endorsed the idea on Tuesday, telling reporters that sending prisoners abroad would be “a lot less expensive and it would be a great deterrent” to crime. “If we could get these animals out of our country, and put them in a different country under the supervision of somebody that made a small fee to maintain these people […] frankly they can keep them,” Trump added.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it “a very generous offer” but noted constitutional and legal hurdles. “Obviously, we’ll have to study it on our end; there are obviously legalities involved,” Rubio said after meeting with Bukele this week.
El Salvador recently surpassed other nations to become the country with the highest incarceration rate per capita. The Central American nation operates a prison labor program called “Plan Zero Idleness,” where inmates work without pay in construction, agriculture, and manufacturing.
Legal experts point out that US courts have historically prevented the deportation of American citizens. The transfer of US citizens to serve sentences abroad for crimes committed domestically would face significant constitutional challenges.
Days before this offer, Bukele released footage showing prisoners working in factory settings, describing it as part of a rehabilitation program that excludes those convicted of rape and murder.
The US maintains the world’s largest prison population, while El Salvador has expanded its penal system significantly under Bukele’s administration.
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