El Salvador offers imprisoned US criminals in notorious mega -prison

President Nayib Bukele from El Salvador on Monday offered to prison convicted criminals deported by the United States, a step that won praise from Secretary of State Marco Rubio despite questions about whether it is legal or even possible.

“We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of his prison system,” Mr. BUGE wrote on xAnd said his government was willing to take convicted criminals, including US citizens, against a fee. “The fee would be relatively low for the United States, but important for us, which makes our entire prison system sustainable.”

El Salvador was the second stop on Mr. Rubio’s first foreign journey as Secretary of State. After meeting with Mr. Bukele Monday said Mr. Rubio that he had informed President Trump of the offer, which he described as unprecedented.

Mr. Rubio said El Salvador had suggested the imprisonment undocumented migrants who have been convicted of crimes and deported from the United States. The secretary said Mr. Bukele had offered to also accept convicted criminals who are currently serving their judgments in the United States, “even if they are US citizens or legal residents.”

The Ministry of State later added that Mr. Bukele had agreed to take undocumented migrants from any country, not only El Salvador, who has been convicted of crimes, including members of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs.

Despite the sweeping extent of the offer, like Mr. Rubio described as “an act of extraordinary friendship” would deport US citizens fly in the light of protection that makes it illegal in all except the rarest cases.

While details of the plan are not yet known, it is another example of how the Trump administration quickly drives home to governments in the region that they are either allies or enemies based on their willingness to support him, especially on illegal migration, fentanyl trading and limitation of Chinese influence.

Mr. Bukele rose to power in 2019 on a promise to free his country with drugs and gangs and has since earned adulation in Latin America to reduce crime in his country. At the same time, he has used emergencies to command mass arrests, as critics say, have trampled human rights and the rule of law that turn on thousands of innocent people.

Mr. Bukele said on Monday that criminals deported by the United States would go to Terrorism -Insulation Center, a prison built to house 40,000 people. Human rights groups have documented Extreme overfilling in El Salvador’s prisons and reports of torture of guards.

El Salvador signed a similar agreement in 2019 to receive non -Salvadorans detained in the United States, known as a “secure third country” agreement. This agreement was never implemented because of the covid pandemic. Mr. Bukele referred to it on Monday and said his new proposal was “more important and to a much wider extent than the agreements concluded in 2019.”

Michael Crowley and Gabriel Labrador Contributed reporting from San Salvador, El Salvador.