El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele offered to detain more violent criminals, including U.S. citizens, in his country's jails during his White House visit Monday. President Donald Trump was then caught on a hot mic telling Bukele to build more prisons—five exactly—for "homegrown criminals" because they "are next"—despite the fact that sending U.S. citizens to foreign prisons is unconstitutional, per legal experts.
Rubio described Bukele's offer as a generous deal, highlighting the high costs of keeping prisoners in American jails. Trump also publicly declared he was "all for" deporting violent criminals, even if they are U.S. citizens.
"They're as bad as anybody that comes in," Trump said in a clip circulating on X. "We have bad ones too, and I'm all for it because we can do things with the president for less money and have great security," he added, referring to Bukele.
During a joint press conference, the two presidents discussed the Trump administration's ongoing deportations to the Central American country's Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), El Salvador's infamous maximum-security prison.
The Trump administration is already paying Bukele $6 million to detain more than 200 undocumented immigrants with alleged gang ties in CECOT. Human rights advocates argue that most of the migrants sent to El Salvador do not have a criminal record. Various stories of men targeted solely because of their tattoos, including a Maryland father who was mistakenly sent to CECOT, have caused public uproar about the lack of due process being offered to detainees.
But when it comes to the proposal of sending U.S. citizens to CECOT, legal experts say it is without a doubt "unconstitutional," even in the case of violent criminals.
"A North American citizen born in the United States cannot be deported or expelled due to protections provided by the 14th Amendment in the Constitution," immigration attorney Claudia Bernal told Telemundo.
The Constitution of the United States protects both U.S.-born and naturalized citizens from having their citizenship taken away from them against their will—with the exception of naturalized citizens who obtained their legal status fraudulently.
Bernal added that in rare circumstances, naturalized citizens who commit serious crimes against the U.S. could also be denaturalized and deported. Examples of such crimes include "terrorism" or "openly declaring to be a U.S. enemy," per the attorney.
Constitutional lawyer Joseph Malouf added that a U.S. citizen prisoner could only be taken to a foreign prison if he were to agree to serve his sentence abroad. Otherwise, "it wouldn't be legal to remove them against their will."
When asked about the legality of Bukele's offer, Rubio suggested the Trump administration would analyze the "incredible" offer.
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