SAN SALVADOR (AP) — The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, left El Salvador on Tuesday with an agreement from the president of that country to accept deported individuals from the United States of any nationality, including violent American criminals currently incarcerated in the United States.
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President Nayib Bukele "has agreed to the most extraordinary migration agreement anywhere in the world," said Rubio after meeting with the president at his lakeside country home on the outskirts of San Salvador for several hours on Monday night before traveling to Costa Rica on Tuesday.
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"We can send them, and he will put them in their jails," Rubio added about migrants of all nationalities detained in the United States. "He has also offered to do the same with dangerous criminals currently in custody and serving their sentence in the United States, even if they are American citizens or legal residents."
What is the agreement between the Trump administration and El Salvador about?
Rubio visited El Salvador to pressure a friendly government to do more to meet President Donald Trump's demands for a tough stance on immigration.
Bukele confirmed the offer in a publication on X: "We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of their prison system." He added that his country would only accept "convicted criminals" and El Salvador would charge a fee that "would be relatively low for the United States, but significant for us and would make our entire prison system sustainable."
Elon Musk, the billionaire who is working with Trump to remodel the federal government, responded on his social network X: "Great idea!".
After Rubio's statements, a U.S. official said that the current Republican government of Trump does not currently have plans to try to deport American citizens, but noted that Bukele's offer was significant. The federal government cannot deport American citizens, and such a measure would face significant legal challenges.
A few days ago, Mauricio Claver-Carone, the Special Envoy for the State Department for Latin America, said that the U.S. government could also send members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to Salvadoran prisons.
What are the controversial measures taken by Bukele in his prisons?
El Salvador has been under a state of emergency since March 2022, when the country's powerful street gangs began a wave of murders. Bukele responded by suspending fundamental rights such as access to lawyers, and authorities have arrested more than 83,000 people with little or no due process.
In 2023, Bukele inaugurated a mega prison with capacity for 40,000 gang members and boasted of serving only one meal a day. The prisoners there do not receive visits, and there are no programs to prepare them for reintegration into society after their sentences, nor workshops or educational programs.
El Salvador, which was once one of the most dangerous countries in the world, ended last year with a record low of 114 homicides, which has boosted Bukele's popularity in the country of around 6 million residents.
Rubio arrived in San Salvador shortly after witnessing a deportation flight financed by the United States with 43 migrants departing from Panama to Colombia. This happened a day after Rubio issued a warning to Panama that unless the Panamanian government takes steps to reduce or eliminate China’s presence in the Panama Canal, the United States would act to do so.