President Trump on Monday suggested sending American inmates to a controversial prison in El Salvador, asking Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to construct “about five more” facilities to hold them.
The remark, delivered during an Oval Office meeting with Bukele, immediately raised alarms among legal and civil rights advocates, who warned such a move would violate the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual” punishment. Criminal justice experts say sending American citizens to be incarcerated abroad, especially in facilities known for human rights concerns, would likely face swift legal challenges.
This wasn’t the first time Trump floated the idea. His latest comments followed a discussion with Bukele, who called the idea of returning Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States—despite a Supreme Court order—“preposterous.” Trump responded, “The homegrowns are next. You gotta build about five more places. … It’s not big enough.”
The meeting came just days after Trump’s own Justice Department acknowledged in court that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national living in Maryland, was mistakenly deported despite a judge’s prior ruling barring his removal due to credible fears of persecution. He is currently being held in El Salvador’s CECOT facility, a high-security prison widely criticized by human rights groups for overcrowding, harsh conditions, and reports of abuse.
Despite never being charged with gang-related crimes, the Trump administration has labeled Abrego Garcia an MS-13 member. Stephen Miller, Trump’s former White House adviser and current homeland security aide, defended the deportation on Fox News, saying, “This was the right person sent to the right place.”
Over the weekend, Trump posted a video to Truth Social showing inmates in CECOT being forcibly moved by guards, adding the caption, “We look forward to seeing President Bukele, of El Salvador, tomorrow in the White House!”
The suggestion that “homegrown” offenders might be sent to the same prison, known for its military-style treatment of detainees, has sparked widespread concern over what critics see as a dangerous politicization of the U.S. criminal justice system.