The president of El Salvador told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his country is willing to take convicted criminals from American prisons and lock them up in his country. The offer came in meetings on Tuesday with Secretary Rubio who is on his first foreign tour after being confirmed by the Senate.
“We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele stated in a post on X. “We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.”
We have offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) February 4, 2025
We are willing to take in only convicted criminals (including convicted U.S. citizens) into our mega-prison (CECOT) in exchange for a fee.
The fee would be relatively low for… pic.twitter.com/HTNwtp35Aq
The Salvadoran president said the fee would be relatively low for the U.S., but he added that the payments would be significant to El Salvador and would make “our entire prison system sustainable.”
” In an extraordinary gesture never before extended by any country, President Bukele offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals, including US citizens and legal residents,” Secretary Rubio responded on X.
Very productive meeting with Salvadoran President @nayibbukele. His commitment to accept and incarcerate criminals from any country, including from violent gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, will make America safer. In an extraordinary gesture never before extended by any… pic.twitter.com/MLMhiVwRqQ
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 4, 2025
Rubio said President Bukele also offered to accept and incarcerate prisoners from any country, including violent gang members like Tren de Aragua and MS-13. He said the offer could “make America safer.”
Breitbart Texas Editor-in-Chief Brandon Darby reposted a November 2024 video report from CNN showing El Salvador’s maximum security Cecot prison, where notorious gang members are held.
This is wild. It’s like an aggressive cancer was finally treated. https://t.co/ZmZtJ3IcnQ
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) February 4, 2025
Regarding President Bukele’s offer, CNN said it was not clear if the Trump administration would accept the offer.
University of California immigration law and citizenship theory professor Leti Volpp mused, “The US is absolutely prohibited from deporting US citizens, whether they are incarcerated or not.”
CNN also reported that Manuel Flores, general secretary of El Salvador’s leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front party, criticized his president’s offer, saying, “What are we? Backyards, front yards, or garbage dumps?”
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
